By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Serbia’s squad for the 2019 FIBA World Cup debuted on Sunday in a friendly game versus Borac Cacak. In front of more than 3,000 fans, the Serbian national team defeated the local side, 97-66 (30-24, 58-37, 78-49), the Serbian Basketball Federation, KSS, informed via press release including photos from the contest.
Nemanja Bjelica notched a game-high 19 points, both Miroslav Raduljica and Boban Marjanovic scored 18 points, Dragan Milosavljevic followed with 10 points to his name. Injured Nikola Milutinov missed the contest, Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic were also left out with the Joker expected to start practicing with his teammates within the next days.
Next up are friendly games versus Finland on August 7th and against Lithuania on August 10th in Belgrade and August 12th at Kaunas. Between August 16th and 18th, the Serbians will take part in the Acropolis International Tournament alongside Italy, Turkey and hosts Greece before the 12 final members of the World Cup roster are announced.
Sasha Djordjevic and his players will travel to China on August 20th and conclude their friendly matches squaring off against Italy, New Zealand and France. Afterwards, at Foshan, Serbia will face Angola on August 31st, the Philippines on September 2nd and Italy on September 4th in World Cup Group D action.