By Michalis Gioulenoglou / info@eurohoops.net
Limassol, Cyprus – In the EuroBasket 2025 opener for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jusuf Nurkic stood out with a team-high 18 points in a comfortable win, 91-64, versus Cyprus. The 31-year-old center of the Utah Jazz added six rebounds, two steals, one block, and one steal.
“We kind of used the game for something to maybe trick people, but at the end of the day, it’s a good start and I feel great to get first off my chest,” he recapped the team effort to begin a five-game round-robin schedule in Limassol.
“We did what we were supposed to do and now focus on the next game,” he referred to facing Spain and looking to reinforce the bid for a ticket to the Round of 16thought on Saturday.
Earlier Thursday, the team coached by Sergio Scariolo fell to Georgia.
“Everybody can beat anyone,” explained Nurkic, “Georgia played a great game. They earned the win, but that’s still Spain. They can come back and still win the rest of the games. That’s how tough the group is.”
Due to injury, Dzanan Musa was ruled out of the tournament.
“It’s super hard,” Nurkic commented on playing without the 26-year-old swingman in EuroBasket, “When you’re missing that big of talent, somebody who can score 20 points in a game, somebody who can make your defense guard him and guard me at the same time, so we know what we’re missing, but at the same time through the history of our country when it was the hardest time we come together the biggest.”
In a late roster adjustment, John Roberson bounced back to cover the single available naturalized spot on the roster of the team coached by Aziz Bekir. With Cyprus reducing the deficit from 24 to eight points, the 36-year-old point guard scored each of his eight points early in the fourth quarter to restore a commanding advantage.
“That second half was big for me, to kind of find my footing and regain my confidence,” he mentioned during the postgame press conference, “My teammates and the coach believe in me. I missed all of my shots before that, but I was going to continue to shoot. I was getting good looks, but they were just not going in. I was taking the right shots. I just had to believe in myself. I’ve been here before. So, I just rely on those past experiences to help myself in those type of moments.”
The Kansas native previously represented Bosnia-Herzegovina in EuroBasket 2022, besides playing in the Qualifiers of the EuroBasket 2022 and the FIBA World Cup 2023.
Photo Credit: FIBA