Slovenia vs Poland - Rematch of last EuroBasket’s quarterfinal on opening night

• Slovenia vs Poland Preview
• Slovenia Form & Team News
• Poland Form & Team News
• Head to Head

Slovenia vs Poland Preview

Will Slovenia kick off the competition with a win, or will coach Milicic’s squad once again prove to be Luka Doncic’s and Slovenia’s nemesis?

Slovenia Form & Team News

They will be without two key players in their system, Vlatko Cancar and Josh Nebo, and surprisingly, just a few days ago, long-time squad member and one of their most experienced players, Zoran Dragic, was left out of the EuroBasket roster.

Both the player himself and many around him did not take the news well, and it remains to be seen how this will affect Slovenia’s results.

In their two warm-up games against Germany, Slovenia looked far from impressive. In the first game, at home and with Luka Doncic in the lineup, they suffered a heavy 103–89 defeat. In the second, without their NBA superstar, they lost 80–70.

This team will likely depend on Doncic more than ever, but the question is whether a one-man show can deliver a deep run in such a strong championship.

Aside from Doncic, Slovenia have only one EuroLeague-level player (Klemen Prepelic), while the rest mostly play in domestic leagues.

Poland Form & Team News

In the quarterfinals, they defeated Slovenia 90–87, led by an extraordinary performance from Mateusz Ponitka, who posted a monster triple-double of 26 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Ponitka will once again lead the team at this tournament, alongside Unicaja Malaga’s Aleksander Balcerowski and naturalized American guard Jordan Loyd, who will take over from veteran A.J. Slaughter.

It will be difficult for Poland to replicate their success from three years ago, but they have a good chance of reaching the knockout stage from a group featuring Iceland, Belgium, Israel, Slovenia, and France.

Head to Head