JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) - Pranav Prince could no longer hide the disappointment he and the whole India felt after bowing to a stinging overtime defeat to Jordan in their FIBA Asia Cup 2025 opener on Tuesday.
While observers consider their efforts of dragging the higher-ranked Falcons down the wire already a win per se, the star winger refuses to settle for moral victories as he felt the game was theirs for the taking.
"I don't know how to get a positive out of a loss, it's just a hard one," he said on the heels of their 91-84 defeat at the King Abdullah Sports City, visibly dejected. "We're just gonna watch film, and see from there."
The 22-year-old actually had the chance to save Team India when he was given the final possession of regulation, and with the match tied at 80-all. But he was not able to manufacture a shot, let alone create a play.
Definitely, the opposing defense played a role in that. Counterpart Hashem Abbas denied him of carving any space for himself, forcing him to pass it outside to Harsh Dagar whose desperate three missed as time expired.
Abbas himself was crucial for the Falcons, for he alone erased the South Asian side's 80-76 lead by scoring inside in back-to-back fashion to tie things up with 14 ticks to go, eventually sending the game into OT.
The younger brother of Asian icon Zaid Abbas would continue his heater run come extra time, scoring six straight to give the Jordanians the 88-80 lead. And while he stayed in the flow, their foes ran out of gas.
Although India managed to trim the lead to half, there was no stopping the opposition anymore. And Prince could only watch helplessly from the bench, as he fouled out still with under two minutes left to play.
He could only lament how inexperience cost them what could've been a drought-ending victory.
India, in case you've been wondering, haven't won a game in the Asia Cup in a decade, or since 2015 in Changsha where they finished with a 3-6 record in the tournament eventually lorded over by hosts China.
"We were right there," he said. "I think there was a lack of experience because we had a four-point lead and we had fouls also, but we didn't foul. We tried to score but we lost the ball, and they got back."
"And in the overtime, we couldn't score the ball," furthered Prince, who finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor alongside 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and a pair of blocks in 29 minutes in the defeat.
Muin Bek Hafeez could only echo his teammate's sentiments.
"We could've won before overtime," said the team captain. "It was a bit of inexperience from our team."
As tough as the loss was, all of Team India are choosing to keep their chins up, believing a victory that has become quite elusive will finally come their way - particularly in the ongoing continental conclave.
Well, they've ended a lengthy drought in the FIBA stage after stunning Kazakhstan during the 2025 Asia Cup Qualifiers' second window, and the target now is snapping as much in the event proper.
Coach Scott Flemming is full of optimism that they can - in fact he's looking forward not only to that day, but in the coming years when the present batch he's been handling since returning to the post grows together.
"I think this team is good enough to win now but like I said, I think they're even gonna be better in two or three, four years from now," the American bench tactician offered. "But you saw tonight. We competed."
Prince is as positive, of course.
"Hopefully we'll prove something in this Asia Cup," he said.
FIBA