MUNICH (Germany) - The first day of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers is behind us. With eight games in the books, it's time to rewind and check out the best individual performances of the day.
Who were the top performers on Thursday?
Cast your vote in the fan poll below and tell us who deserves to be named Player of the Day.
Oleksandr Kovliar was the man of the hour as Ukraine picked up a big road win to start their campaign. The 23-year-old guard poured in 31 points, hitting 12-of-20 from the field, with 6 rebounds and 6 assists also to his name.
Ukraine were a +19 team with him on the floor, and he had an efficiency rating of 30 in a 92-79 win over Georgia.
Another guard with an all-round performance was Stefan Miljenovic. The 24-year-old pulled all the strings in a Serbia comeback, erasing a 23-point halftime deficit to Switzerland to start the reign of Dusan Alimpijevic with a win.
Miljenovic had 23 points, made 15-of-19 free throws, with 9 assists and 8 rebounds, not committing a single turnover in 32 minutes on the floor. Serbia were a +28 team with him playing, and his efficiency rating was a team-high 32.
Another guard with a great stat line was Elvar Fridriksson. Iceland's scorer needed 29 minutes to score 29 points, done on 10-of-18 shooting from the field, with 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
He had a team-high 26 in efficiency rating, propelling Iceland to another memorable road win over Italy.
The superhero of the day was Ignas Sargiunas. Lithuania were trailing by seven points with 12 seconds on the game clock, but their guard caught fire.
Sargiunas knocked down three straight three-pointers in the final 10 seconds, including the buzzer-beater from nearly half court, as Lithuania won the game 89-88 on the road in Great Britain.
Sargiunas had 27 points in 25 minutes, and was 1-of-5 from deep before the final sequence.
Finally, the middle belongs to Dusan Ristic. Serbia's center scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, powering a 20-2 run that overturned the aforementioned gap in Belgrade.
Ristic played just 18 minutes, but made all 10 of his field goal attempts, and had 5 rebounds as well.
FIBA