Bosnia and Herzegovina have already come away with two huge upsets in the last two weeks, but they’ll need yet another to keep their unexpected run at EuroBasket 2022 alive.
Despite ending up in the “Group of Death” thanks to an unfortunate draw, the Bosnians, led by Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, will have a chance to advance to the Round of 16 with a victory versus Lithuania Wednesday in Cologne, Germany, while a loss would signal the end of their tournament run.
Nurkic is averaging 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.5 steals in 29.4 minutes per game at EuroBasket 2022.
Few would have figured Bosnia and Herzegovina (henceforth abbreviated as “BiH”) would have a chance to advance to the knockout round of EuroBasket (heretofore known as the European Championships) for multiple reasons. First, there were questions regarding whether the BiH federation would have the funds to support the team at EuroBasket. Then they entered the tournament as the 46th ranked team in the world according to FIBA, putting them above only the Netherlands (47th) and Estonia (48th) among teams that qualified for the tournament.
However, the biggest blow was landing in Group B alongside France, the 4th ranked team in the world and the silver medalist in Tokyo, Slovenia, the defending EuroBasket champs and the 5th ranked team in the world, Germany, the host country and an up-and-comer on the international basketball scene, Lithuania, the 8th ranked team in the world and one of the stalwarts of European basketball, and Hungary, the only team other than BiH in Group B that didn’t make it to the elimination round of the 2020 Olympics. So with four of the six teams in each group advancing, most assumed BiH, along with Hungary, would be on the outside looking in come the knockout round.
But after splitting their first two games in Cologne with a win versus Hungary and a 10-point loss to Germany, BiH, behind Nurkic, Dzanan Musa and John Roberson, pulled off the upset of the tournament, besting Slovenia, a team featuring Luka Doncic, Goran Dragic and Vlatko Cancar, 97-93 on Sunday. If BiH could have defeated France in their fourth game -- they upset the French in a World Cup qualifer a week prior -- or if Hungary had defeated Lithuania for their first win of this year’s tournament, Nurkic and his fellow countrymen would have already punched their ticket to the knockout round for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Neither of those things happened Tuesday -- France won the rematch with BiH, 81-68, and Lithuania easy bested Hungary for their first victory of the tournament -- leaving BiH with a 2-2 record with one game to play versus the 1-3 Lithuanians. If BiH wins, they would advance to face either the first or second place team out of Group A -- both of which will be either Spain or Turkey -- while a loss would send Lithuania to the knockout round while ending BiH’s tournament.
If you’ve got ESPN+ and don’t mind getting up early, you can watch Nurkic and BiH face off versus Jonas Valanciunas, Domantas Sabonis and Lithuania for the right to advance to the Round of 16. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 am Pacific.