RIGA (Latvia) - Ercan Osmani picked the perfect opportunity to have the game of his life. The center came into the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Semi-Finals ready to perform and he did exactly that with a record-setting 28 points in Türkiye's 94-68 win over Greece.
Osmani set a new mark for the most points by any Turkish player in a EuroBasket knockout game in helping Türkiye reach the EuroBasket Final and a date with Germany.
And his 6 three-pointers tied the record in a EuroBasket Semi-Final over the last 30 years - the others being Serbia's Milos Teodosic in 2009 and Alexey Shved in 2017 for Russia.
"I am very happy that I contributed very well for this team," said Osmani, who added 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. His 28 points were also a personal best in a Türkiye jersey.
Despite Osmani shooting 50 percent from long range on 3.1 attempts coming into the game, Greece's defense decided to give him space on the perimeter.
The 27-year-old set the tone early on with 11 points in the first 5 minutes while hitting all three of his three-point attempts.
"He made it rain. I am really happy for him because he is working hard. We believe in him. That is what we were expecting from him," Furkan Korkmaz said about Osmani.
Shane Larkin has been played with Osmani for two seasons at Anadolu Efes Istanbul, so he was not surprised with the big man's performance.
"Ercan is an unbelievable player. He's been on my team for a few years at Efes, and I have been saying for many years that he has a lot of quality. For him to be able to put on a performance like that on the world stage in front of all the media and everything I am extremely happy for him," Larkin said.
Head coach Ergin Ataman praised both ends of Osmani's play.
"Ercan found his open space and he made his first shot and that gave him confidence. That opened the court," he said of the game's TCL Player of the Game.
"Osmani played great defense about Giannis," said Ataman, who joked that maybe NBA teams will come looking to sign Osmani to stop Antetokounmpo.
His previous high was 17 points against Hungary in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in November 2024. And he had reached that already by halftime with 18 points through 20 minutes.
Osmani has been playing his best basketball for his country in Riga.
He averaged 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in six games of the Qualifiers. And, he has now collected 12.6 points and 5.4 rebounds this summer, including 16 points against Czechia and a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Estonia.
What does Osmani have in store for the Final?
FIBA