LIMASSOL (Cyprus) - When Gianmarco Pozzecco was formulating his plan for FIBA EuroBasket 2025 early on this summer, the Italy national team head coach didn't know exactly what to expect from Saliou Niang.
Let's just say that they 21-year-old talent has blown away any expectations Pozzecco had for him. And Niang's Italian teammates have been similarily surprised.
Niang has come out of the gates on fire in Limassol as Italy's leading scorer through two games with 13.0 points to go with 2.5 rebounds. He shined so brightly in Italy's win over Georgia, that his 15-point performance - which included eight points in the game-deciding 16-0 run - earned him the TCL Player of the Game honor.
"Maybe I didn't imagine I'd have this impact from the start. But even in practice, I was able to immediately get along well with my teammates, and I'm happy with how I'm playing and what I am able to give the team, and I'll try to do that in every game," said Niang, who is playing his first major competition.
Niang also became the first Italian player under 22 year to have scored 10+ points in multiple EuroBasket games since Alessandro Gentile in 2013.
EuroBasket 2025 is just about Niang's debut with the senior national team.
He was with the team for the final window of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February 2025. He played 11 minutes in the final qualifying game and picked up 3 rebounds.
Niang since then has had a whirlwind ride. He took off after the window back with his club Trento and averaged 10.1 points over the final 15 games of the year after having scored in double figures just once the whole season. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds with a new-found confidence.
That resulted in Niang getting selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA Draft in June 2025. And he played for Cleveland in the NBA Summer League.
"The Summer League helped me a lot to be ready for here. When I go to the court I just do my thing and thinkg how I can help the team: give energy, try to control the defensive rebounds. The simple things that can help the team," said Niang, who was born in Senegal but came to Italy with his parents when he was 2 years old.
Niang, who will play for Italian powerhouse Virtus Bologna next season, came to the Italy camp and opened eyes right from the start.
"I’m not surprised by him any more. He's been amazing the whole summer."
"I didn't know him personally before this summer because I never got to play with him, but he definitely surprised me from the first days of training camp," Italy's star forward Simone Fontecchio said before the tournament.
"His level of athleticism is crazy. I don't think we've ever seen anything like it in Italian guys in the last few years. So it definitely helped us and it's a huge help with high energy and intensity for the second unit."
After Niang's showing against Georgia, Fontecchio offered: "I’m not surprised by him any more. He's been amazing the whole summer. He can only get better and the sky is the limit for him."
Matteo Spagnolo raved about Niang's freak athleticism but said there is plenty more to come for him.
"I feel like his role will be bigger and bigger every year, and for sure he could be the main guy or one of the main guys on the team when the time come," Spagnolo said.
"His impact already now is something that we can already use and we will continue to use."
Pozzecco meanwhile couldn't refrain from cracking a giant smile, big laugh and endearing glance with Niang at the Georgia post-game press conference when asked about his young talent.
"He surprised me. He surprised the whole world. We knew that he could be good and we knew that he could have a future, a big future in front of him. His impact already now is something that we can already use and we will continue to use," Pozzecco said.
The head coach preaches family in his team and he emphasized how telling it is that Niang has already been so expected in the group.
"Veterans really help him, but to help teammates you have to love them. To love young guys they have to deserve it. In this business, the main business is to love each other. If you are young, you have to earn that kind of love from the veterans. it’s working good. The veterans want to help him," Pozzecco said.
Niang is showing a maturity level beyond his years and has really been a major help to Italy. And no one else needs to be surprised any more.
FIBA