Daily tracker: Reigning champs Slovenia, Ukraine, Israel, Spain secure EuroBasket 2022 spots

MIES (Switzerland) - The second FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers window has concluded with seven new teams clinching qualification, leaving with 21 teams in the battle for 13 remaining tickets for the upcoming summit in Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy.

Gameday 4: Espoo, Ljubljana, Tallinn, Valencia (November 30)

Reigning champions Slovenia were among a quartet of countries to lock up spots in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 in the final day of action in the second window of qualifiers along with three-time champions Spain, Israel and Ukraine. Slovenia did not actually play on the day - having won their second game of the window a day earlier, but they secured the chance to defend their crown from 2017 when Ukraine beat Austria 70-67. Israel remained perfect as they fought off Poland 78-72 in Group A, from where Spain also advanced after a 94-41 blowout of Romania.

That quartet joined Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Greece in reaching the 24-team field for 2022, which also will include co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy.

Top Performers of the day

Thaddus McFadden made sure that EuroBasket 2022 co-hosts Georgia didn't lose to Switzerland as the guard was the most efficient player of the day. He collected 24 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists for an efficiency of 27.

Amedeo Tessitori was the second-most efficient player with a value of 26 as he tallied 27 points, 9 rebounds and 1 steal against Russia. McFadden wasn't the only Georgian star to step up as Tornike Shengelia tallied an efficiency of 22 thanks to picking up 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Olexandr Mishula of Ukraine had an efficiency value of 19 as he had 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists against Austria. Rasid Mahalbasic of Austria and Switzerland's Roberto Kovac both registered an efficiency of 19 as well - albeit in losses.

Daily Highs

Points: Amedeo Tessitori poured in 27 points in Italy's win over Russia to take scoring honors.

Rebounds: The top rebounder of the day came from the final game of the day as Ruben Guerrero yanked down 12 rebounds for Spain against Romania. 

Assists: Switzerland may have lost to Georgia but Jonathan Kazadi dished out 10 assists.

Steals: Forget about Rasid Mahalbasic being a center, the Austrian big man snatched five steals against Ukraine. Sasu Salin of Finland also grabbed five steals against Serbia.

Blocks: Alexander Madsen tried his best to be the intimidator for Finland as he swatted away three shots by Serbians. That was the same number of blocks that Victor Arteaga had for Spain against Romania.

Gameday 4: Istanbul, Pau, Vilnius, Sarajevo, Ljubljana  (November 29)

Three teams celebrated booking their tickets to the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 on Day 3 of the second window of Qualifiers as Croatia, Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the quartet of co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy in locking up berths to the continental spectacle. Croatia eased past Sweden 87-72 to remain undefeated in Group D while Greece had a great comeback in knocking off Bulgaria 84-78 in overtime and only were assured of premature qualification when Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated Latvia 79-73 later in the day, sending both teams from Group H.

Top Performers of the day

Gabriel Lundberg came up with a game for the ages as he picked up the highest efficiency (36) of the day in Denmark's 91-90 upset win over Czech Republic. He tallied 38 points on 9-of-16 shots - including 7-of-9 three-pointers and 13-of-14 free throws - while also picking up 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal.

Pavle Marcinkovic helped Croatia secure their EuroBasket ticket with an efficiency of 29 as he gathered 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals against Sweden. Gabriel Olaseni also had an efficiency value of 29 as he helped Great Britain beat Montenegro 74-59 with 28 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block.

Kenan Kamenjas was great all game in Bosnia and Herzegovina's victory over Latvia, picking up 19 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block for an efficiency of 26. And rounding out the Top Performers was Shane Larkin, who had 23 points with 5 three-points, 2 rebounds and 9 assists in a 73-71 win over Netherlands.

Daily Highs

Points: Two days after he scored the game-winner against Lithuania, Gabriel Lundberg torched Czech Republic for 38 points in Denmark’s latest upset.

Rebounds: Evangelos Margaritis played a major role in Greece's comeback win over Bulgaria as he snagged 11 rebounds. 

Assists: Shane Larkin not only scored 23 points in Turkey's win against the Netherlands but also dished out 9 assists. Adama Darboe also had 9 assists in Denmark's upset of the Czechs.

Steals: Multiple players had 3 steals.

Blocks: Vassilis Kavvadas was a force in the middle for Greece against Bulgaria with 6 blocks.

Gameday 3: Valencia, Tallinn, Espoo, Ljubljana (November 28)

Day 2 was a day of upsets as Switzerland made headlines across the continent by shocking Serbia while Israel came back from 18 points down to surprise Spain to move to 3-0. Georgia also remained perfect though it had a fight with Finland. Despite the action taking place in bubbles across Europe, the showdown between Italy and North Macedonia was postponed.

Top Performers of the day

Giorgi Shermadini collected the highest efficiency (33) of the day as he guided Georgia to a 91-85 win over Finland. The Finnish defense had no answers for the big Georgian, who ended up playing a major role in three Finns fouling out. In the end, Shermadini picked up 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Tamir Blatt helped Israel to the fantastic 95-87 comeback win over Spain as he tallied 16 of his 21 points and seven of his nine assists in the second half - as the second-most efficient player of the day with his 31 efficiency.

Poland rolled past Romania 91-71  as every Polish player scored at least three points while Michal Sokolowski led the way with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals for an efficiency of 28. Another team with a comfortable victory was Russia, who eased past Estonia 85-56  thanks to Evgenii Baburin, who had an efficiency of 24 in scoring 19 points with 5 rebounds.

And while Serbian Aleksa Avramovic tallied an efficiency of 27, rounding out the five Top Performers is Jonathan Kazadi, who was outstanding in Switzerland’s shocking 92-90 win over Serbia as he gathered 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists for an efficiency of 23.

Daily Highs

Points: Giorgi Shermadini was unstoppable for Georgia as he tallied 27 points - hitting 7-of-10 field goal attempts to go with 13-of-15 free throws.

Rebounds: Jordan Morgan controlled the boards for Slovenia with 11 rebounds against Ukraine.

Assists: Thad McFadden did his part in helping Shermadini dominate as he dished out 10 assists.

Steals: Michal Sokolowksi starred for Poland, including snatching up four steals against Romania - the same tally for Issuf Sanon for Ukraine in the loss to Slovenia.

Blocks: Andrey Vorontsevich swatted two shots in Russia's win over Estonia while Kristopher Richard had two blocks for Romania against Poland.

Gameday 3: Istanbul, Pau, Vilnius, Sarajevo (November 27)

Belgium and Croatia continued their winning runs, becoming the first two teams to climb to 3-0. Incidentally, this means double celebration for Croatian basketball fans, since Belgium have Zadar-born Dario Gjergja as their playcaller. Meanwhile, there is only one team down at 0-3 when it comes to these four groups. Turkey's coaching change was to no avail, and Shane Larkin's debut did not get the 12 Giant Men off the mark.

Top Performers of the day

Miro Bilan had the highest efficiency (37) of the day, leading Croatia to a 79-62 win over Turkey in Istanbul. Bilan had 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting, with 12 rebounds also in his stat line, for good measure. This was his best game for the national team, and it's coming in an already successful week for the 31-year-old center - Bilan was named to the Basketball Champions League Team of the Month for November for his contributions with Dinamo Sassari.

The upset of the day belongs to Denmark, thanks to Gabriel Lundberg's late game heroics. The Danish point guard exploded for 28 points on the night, including the game-winning runner with 18 seconds to go, handing Denmark a memorable 80-76 win over Lithuania in Vilnius. Lundberg also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists, making him the second most efficient player of the day, with 28 in the efficiency department of the boxscore.

France dominated their opener in Pau, blowing out Great Britain 79-56. Amath M'Baye needed 22 minutes of action to put together a 24-point, 5-rebound performance, with an efficiency rating of 25. Martins Laksa matched that number with his hot shooting for Latvia, continuing the Laksa tradition within the team. Latvia claimed their first win of the Qualifiers, 77-66 over Greece, with Laksa's 19 points coming on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, including four triples.

Rounding out the five Top Performers was Belgium's Retin Obasohan. The explosive guard want all-round for 18 points, 7 assists, 4 steals and efficiency 24.

Daily Highs

Points: Miro Bilan had 30 points, becoming the 10th Croat with 30 or more points in a single game for the national team, joining an impressive list alongside Drazen Petrovic, Dino Radja, Velimir Perasovic, Arijan Komazec, Toni Kukoc, Gordan Giricek, Damir Mulaomerovic, Marko Popovic and Bojan Bogdanovic.

Rebounds: Bilan again, he had 12 of them.

Assists: Andrew Albicy dished out 9 assists against Great Britain, so it's no surprise that France were a +27 team in his 22 minutes of work.

Steals: Tarik Phillip of Great Britain struggled shooting the ball, finishing with 7 points on 2-of-8 attempts, but at least he played his part on the defensive end, picking up a day-high 5 steals.

Blocks: Multiple players had 2 blocks.

FIBA