ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - Türkiye have ridden the wave of enthusiasm from their home crowd to reach the Semi-Finals of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026 and next up face another strong European challenger in a Serbia side hungry to bring home hardware again.
The Turks scored the final 13 points of the Quarter-Finals to beat France 94-87 thanks to the supporters at the Basketball Development Center. Omer Kutluay and Darius Karutasu once again were outstanding as the hosts remained undefeated in reaching the top four for the third time.
Türkiye are shooting for a third medal after second place in 2016 and third in 2024.
Serbia fended off a major challenge from Lithuania 101-78 to reach the Semi-Finals for the second time following 2014, when they took third place for their only podium finish.
Key Matchup
Darius Karutasu vs Nikola Kusturica
Karutasu has been simply amazing for Türkiye alongside Kutluay, but it's been the former's ability to defend multiple positions which makes him simply invaluable. And that defensive flexibility will be greatly needed, especially in helping slow down Serbia's main weapon
That has been Nikola Kusturica. The wing is just an all-around star as Serbia's next Wunderkind. While his offensive skillset is so impressive, it's his willingness to work at the other end which makes him standout that much more.
X-factors
Türkiye rely so much on Kutluay and Karutasu - the numbers are staggering. They both average 36+ minutes while accounting for 58.0% of the team's points, 34.8% of the rebounds, 60.8% of the assists, 48.6% of the steals, 50% of all shots, 54.0% of the three-pointers and 65.1% of their free throws.
Any production by the Turkish bench will be extremely valuable. Head coach Hasan Ozmeric knows he will get the production from his superstars. It will be up to the rest of the group to support them.
For Serbia, starting point guard Ognjen Simjanovski will be the first line of defense against Kutluay and any slowing down of the Turkish star would be a great help.
Stats Don't Lie
If the game gets tight down the stretch, things could go in favor of the hosts. Serbia have converted only 61.5% of their free throws while Türkiye are hitting 78.3% of their foul shots. One area the Serbs are better is crashing the glass after missing shots.
Serbia are collecting 19.6 offensive rebounds to 15.4 for Türkiye which has translated to a 20.0 to 12.6 advantage in second chance points.
Past Matchups
These two nations have played only once at the FIBA U17 World Cup and that came in 2018 when Türkiye won 87-68 in the Round of 16. But the current two teams matched up just two weeks ago in a pre-tournament exhibition in Istanbul.
Serbia won 73-72 as Matija Lukic drained a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left after Omer Kutluay hit a jumper in the lane to give Türkiye the lead with 17.4 seconds remaining. Nikola Kusturica did not play in the game for Serbia.
They Said
"It's a Final and that is fine. That is normal. We will be ready." - Türkiye head coach Hasan Ozmeric
"We're ready. We played against them so many times. We know them, what do you have to do to win - fight. Fight like this (the Quarter-Final win), the same way, fight." - Türkiye guard Omer Kutluay
"Türkiye is very good. We know them from (FIBA U16) EuroBasket. This (the Quarter-Finals game) was a very tough game. After this we need a need a rest. But the guys will be there." - Serbia head coach Stevan Mijovic
"We have to keep going. We hav to be ready and keep playing the same way." - Serbia guard Nikola Kusturica
FIBA