By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – For the first time since 2013, Sweden is competing in EuroBasket and reached the Round of 16 to face Turkiye on Saturday.
Clinching a berth in the knockout stage, combined with Great Britain knocking out Montenegro in Tampere on Wednesday.
“That was amazing,” Melwin Pantzar recalled in a conversation with Eurohoops on Friday, “We were in the locker room, watching the game, seeing the box score on a small TV we had in the locker room, and we were so happy when Great Britain won. Just exciting, exciting to go through to the next phase. I think we worked hard to get here, and we deserve it, so I’m just happy.”
His country ranked fourth in Group B, behind a 1-4 tally on the favorable end of a three-way tie with Montenegro and Great Britain.
“The thing I’m proud of the team is that we really fought hard every game,” the 25-year-old guard recapped pool play, “We came in with a good mentality. We made it hard for the other teams. I think we were right there, except for the game against Germany, where they outplayed us. A really good team, maybe the favorite.”
“The things we could have done better are at the end of every game,” he added, “We made some small mistakes, especially details, offensive rebounds, we let the other teams take the rebounds, and then in offense we didn’t really know what to do. So I think we’ve got to be on the same page, especially at the end of the games. And learn from these mistakes and try to do it better.”
Moving to the Round of 16, up next is Turkiye in Xiaomi Arena.
“We’re really excited. We know that this game is already history for us, and now we’re gonna play in that game to make it to the quarters,” said Pantzar, “That would be amazing for Sweden, for us, for like whole country. So, we’re just excited we’re going against [Alperen] Sengun, one of the best players in this EuroBasket, if not the best. We play against Shane Larkin, a legend in Europe. For me, for the other guards, it’s a privilege to play against him because he’s at what we want to get to. So, we’re going to come into the game, fight really hard to get 100% and let’s see what happens.”
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA