By Semih Tuna/ info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – Solid showings for Alperen Sengun in EuroBasket 2025 extended to the 23-year-old center becoming the first player with at least 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists in three consecutive EuroBasket games over the last 30 years.
After falling shy from a triple-double due to a miscommunication in his previous outing, the Houston Rockets star tallied 21 points with 8/13 field goals, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block, lifting Turkiye to a comfortable win, 84-64, versus Estonia and to 4-0 in Group A of the preliminary round on Monday.
“We used Alperen Sengun very well under the basket again. Adem Bona, he found his pick-and-roll score that is very important for us. All of the guys, like the previous games, they put great hustle on the court. Once more, we showed our potential, our power, and our big goal in this EuroBasket,” recapped head coach Ergin Ataman in the postgame press conference.
🇹🇷😎 Turkiye remains undefeated in the #Eurobasket group phase after a 20-point win against Estonia !
Estonia – Turkiye 64-84 pic.twitter.com/wq2yqgYd7Y
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 1, 2025
“I think they got a lot of respect from the refs right away, from the first second,” head coach Heiko Rannula joked about Turkiye potentially lacking pundits’ respect.
“But for sure, they have the talent,” added the 42-year-old tactician, “I think everybody knows they are capable of. They are one of the biggest teams in the tournament. Definitely, against every team, they have an advantage under the basket.”
Besides falling to 1-3 before a key matchup with Portugal on Wednesday, Estonia’s Sander Raieste was forced to an early exit during the second quarter of the Gameday 4 contest, following the injury to Siim-Sander Vene against Latvia on Monday.
Nikola Jokic is next
Wrapping up pool play in Riga’s Xiaomi Arena, Sengun and Turkiye will face Serbia and Nikola Jokic on Wednesday. Both countries will continue in the Latvian capital for the knockout stage, but the winner of their direct battle will clinch the top seed in the six-team group.
“I believe both teams have the same potential. The performance of the teams on that day will determine the result,” predicted 59-year-old Ataman, “Serbia has a great roster, but we also have shown in these four games that our roster and basketball is also at the same top-level. So, it will be a very tough game for first place in the group.”
“We have a goal, to finish on top of the group and in general a big goal to win a medal in the tournament,” added Adem Bona, “We got a step closer to our goal. And in two days, we have one more chance, which will take us even closer to our goal.”
Over his first four appearances, Sengun is up to 20.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 0.8 steals per contest. However, Jokic will present a much bigger challenge in their approaching matchup.
“He has more potential under the basket. We know about this. So, we will answer in the same way. But not only Jokic, Serbia has great potential in their guards. So, it will be different from our previous games,” said Ataman on Jokic and remaining stars on the roster of the next opponent, “We will not prepare anything special to defend Jokic. We will use our regular defense.”
Photo Credit: FIBA