Our national team is facing a big challenge on Thursday, June 30th, when they play their last game of the FIBA 2025 Eurobasket pre-qualifiers.
Luxemourg needs a win to keep the chances alive of qualifying for the next round. On the road against a strong opponent, the team of coach Ken Diederich will be challenged, also by the opponent’s crowd.
So far, Romania has a perfect record of 2:0 after winning a nailbiter in Luxembourg (73:70) and after clearly beating Albania (101:84) at home. With a win against Luxembourg, Romania is definitely qualified for the next round so that the team will be highly motivated entering this game.
Some things stand out in the roster and also in the playing style of our opponent.
2.06 m tall center Emanuel Cate (picture), their most efficient player (13.5 points per game, 9 rebounds) is playing in the first Spanish league for many years already. He will be very hard to handle and we know that this is a challenge that Clancy Rugg will be looking forward to.
Another big plus factor of the team is their balanced team effort, very similar to Luxembourg. In fact, their 2 top scorers average 16 points per game and a lot of players on Romania’s roster are capable of scoring 15+ points in a game, they do not rely on one or 2 players to provide most the points. In total, 6 players average more than 10 points in this competition.
Another big strength by Romania has been the 3-point shooting in this competition. The numbers of the first 2 games are astonishing. Against Luxembourg, Romania hit 12 out of 37 attempts from behind the arc, they only attempted 21 shots from inside the 3-point line in that game. In their win against Albania, Romania hit 14 out of 35 attempts from the 3-point line while taking only 29 shot attempts from 2 point range. 8 different players hit a 3-pointer in that game which shows the danger that Romania can put on teams with their balanced team shooting.
In the first meeting between both teams in the Coque, the game came down to the last possessions as Luxembourg had a chance to tie the game on a late 3-point shot attempt (video).
Standings (group B):
Romania (4 points, 2 wins, 0 losses)
Luxembourg (4 points, 1 win, 2 losses)
Albania (4 points, 1 win, 2 losses)
Previous results in this competition and upcoming games in group B:
Albania – Luxembourg 92:89
Luxembourg – Romania 70:73
Romania – Albania 101:84
Luxembourg – Albania 86:75
Romania – Luxembourg (June 30, 2022)
Albania – Romania (July 3, 2022)
The roster for the game against Romania:
Bob Melcher (Amicale Steinsel)
Philippe Gutenkauf (Etzella Ettelbruck)
Yannick Verbeelen (Sparta Bertrange)
Jonathan Diederich (Urspring, Germany)
Ivor Kuresevic (Amicale Steinsel)
Joé Kalmes (T71 Dudelange)
Clancy Rugg (Basket Esch)
Alex Laurent (Gladiators Trier, Germany)
Derek Wilson Jr (Arantia Larochette)
Ben Kovac (Den Helder Suns, Netherlands)
Lou Demuth (US Heffingen)
Thomas Grün (Basket Esch)
Xavier Robert Francois (Résidence Walferdange)
Head coach: Ken Diederich
Assistant coaches: Pit Rodenbourg, Denis Toroman
How can Luxembourg qualify for the next round?
10 teams are playing in a total of 3 groups in this pre-qualification round. The winner of each group and the best second placed team will enter the next round. So when will Luxembourg qualify?
Option 1 – win the group
With 1 win and 2 losses at the moment, Luxembourg needs a win against Romania and a loss by Romania against Albania in the final group game to have a chance to win the group. However, the points differential would make the difference in a potential 3-team-tie so that winning the group seems to be wishful thinking at the moment.
Option 2 – enter next round as the best second placed team
Luxembourg could enter the next qualification round as the best second placed team. They need to win against Romania on June 30th. Then, they will « compete » against the second placed teams from the other groups. At this moment, it is most likely that Switzerland or Austria (group A) or Norway or Denmark (group C) could be in a tie situation with Luxembourg (2:2 record). With multiple games remaining to be played in all 3 groups, we must wait and see how other nations will play.
Note: To determine the best ranked second-placed team out of the three groups, the results against fourth-placed teams in the groups of four teams will be disregarded to compare the teams on a like-for-like basis as per the official Basketball rules. This means thatthe results in group A against Cyprus (most likely) will be deleted in order to compare the teams with nations from other groups.
picture: FIBA
