JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) - Australia made their intentions of securing a three-peat clear by dealing Korea a 97-61 pummeling for a rousing FIBA Asia Cup 2025 debut Wednesday at the King Abdullah Sports City.
Jack McVeigh led the Boomers with 20 points as the 2024 Olympian caught fire from beyond the arc especially in the second quarter, which sparked the huge breakaway that left their East Asian foes overwhelmed.
The former NBA pro knocked down four straight threes to turn a narrow four-point edge to a 40-29 advantage, before Will Magnay, Xavier Cooks, and Jaylin Galloway chipped in to make it a 48-31 lead at the break.
It would be all Team Australia since, giving Adam Caporn a triumphant debut as the men's program's new head coach and, more importantly, staying perfect in this tourney as they've won their 13th straight match.
"It's really important," the former player-turned-mentor said when asked how crucial it was for he and the crew to start off their campaign triumphantly. "You don't just want to take things as they come, in my opinion."
"Being well-prepared for that and having a good performance, first game, and a win, is something we definitely wanted, and something that we value and we're gonna talk about," Caporn continued.
Galloway finished with 12 points. Will Hickey came through with 11 points while Cooks added 10 points and 7 rebounds for the Aussies, who nailed a total of 15 triples and shot 50.7-percent from the floor all in all.
But it was really their defense which the seasoned bench tactician took pride in after his charges limited one of the continent's traditionally elite shooting teams to only nine made three-pointers in 33 attempts.
"I was really happy with our defense. We kept a really good offensive team off the three-point line. Keeping that team to nine made threes, I think, is a really good outcome," he said. "And, we rebounded the ball (49-33)."
The reigning two-time champions have taken the early lead in Group A following the result, and will definitely look to keep their winning ways against Lebanon on Friday at 18:00 local time in a rematch of the 2022 Final.
Lee Junghyun, on the other hand, had 20 points to lead Korea. Lee Hyunjung was the only other double-digit scorer for the team with 11 points and 8 rebounds in the loss, where they shot only 33.3-percent from the field.
Korea (0-1) will look to nab win no. 1 against Qatar on Friday as well at 11:00 local time.
FIBA