By Josh Cohen
Sept. 14, 2016
Montenegro has arguably been the most impressive team at the 2017 EuroBasket Qualification tournament.
Through the first five games, including its 94-56 victory over Albania (0-5) on Wednesday, Montenegro (5-0) has combined to score a competition-best 479 points. It also has the event’s best point differential (+149).
While his country only needed him for 22 minutes against Albania, Nikola Vucevic had another solid performance with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Vucevic’s playmaking and long-distance shooting has stood out. He has dished out 15 assists and has made six 3-pointers in the five games combined.
Montenegro will have a chance to clinch a spot in next year’s event with a win over Georgia on Saturday in front of its home crowd. In their last meeting in Tbilisi on Sept. 7, Montenegro prevailed in a thriller. Vucevic drilled a critical 3-pointer down the stretch and he grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds in the final seconds that led to a game-winning shot by Nemanja Djurisic.
The only other undefeated teams to this point of the competition include Belgium, Slovenia, Hungary and Russia. The seven first-place teams from each group and four second-place finishers will advance.
Finland, Romania, Israel and Turkey will each host EuroBasket 2017. Spain, Serbia, France, Lithuania, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Latvia and Czech Republic have also already qualified.
The draw to determine where each country will play its round-robin group games will be held in Turkey on Nov. 22.