PESARO (Italy) - Serbia finished off a perfect FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers fourth window in taking down Italy on the road and moving a big step towards advancing from Group J.
After watching a 14-point lead disappear, it was a matter of bending but not breaking in Serbia's 76-64 victory to improve to 6-2 with four games to go.
Aleksa Avramovic and Marko Guduric both drained 4 three-pointers in carrying Dusan Alimpijevic's team with 20 and 19 points, respectively while combining for 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Those were Serbia's only double-digit scorers with star big man Nikola Jokic picking up 8 points and 8 rebounds.
Alimpijevic revealed at the post-game press conference that Jokic had been very sick the last three days and received intravenous injections each day - including on Monday.
"He rejected to give up and leave his team alone. He never complained or said anything to us. We are so proud we have a captain like him," said the coach about his NBA superstar.
Jokic himself said playing in a big game like one in Italy was one of the biggest reasons he loves playing for the national team.
"The most important thing is to win the game - no matter what. If I can make some advantage by not having the ball and let the other guys score I am more than glad to do that," Jokic said.
The center especially complemented his team's under-recognized players, saying: "The energy from (Arijan) Lakic, (Nemanja) Dangubic, (Ognjen) Dobric, (Nikola) Tanaskovic was off the charts. They brought us those extra possessions, those extra points, the extra energy that led the rest of the team ... Those guys were the soul today in the game."
At the other end, things looked good for Italy coming into the window with a 5-1 record, but Luca Banchi's team dropped both games to fall to 5-3. Nico Mannion had 23 points and Simone Fontecchio added 15 points, but Saliou Niang's 8 points made him the only other Italian player with more than 5 points.
"Serbia played a very serious game. They used all their advantages in terms of skill and size. But I believe for most of the game we were able to compete. I really liked the effort of the guys. They understood the sense of urgency," Banchi told the press conference.
Serbia were up 25-24 early in the second quarter when they went on a 13-0 surge to pull ahead 38-24. Italy immediately responded with a 20-6 run spanning the middle two quarters to knot the game 44-44. Avramovic and Guduric both knocked down triples to re-establish a five-point gap and Serbia led 57-54 after 30 minutes.
Serbia's defense showed up to start the final frame with the hosts going scoreless for 4 minutes and Serbia pulling away 64-54. Italy could not get closer than eight points the rest of the way.
In the next window in November 2026, Serbia will play at Lithuania and then host Italy while Italy’s other game will be at home against Türkiye.
FIBA