Starting Saturday versus Sweden, Rockets star Alperen Sengun will lead Turkey in the knockout rounds of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 competition. On paper, it looks to be a favorable draw.
While nothing is guaranteed, the knockout-rounds bracket for the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 competition looks promising for Turkey and Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun.
Turkey plays Sweden in Saturday’s round-of-16 matchup, and should they advance, Sengun’s squad would face the winner of Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina in a quarterfinal next Tuesday.
Sweden went 1-4 in group-stage play, while Bosnia and Herzegovina went 3-2 with a neutral point differential. Poland was +13 with a matching 3-2 record.
Led by their 2025 NBA All-Star, Turkey went 5-0 with a +100 point differential, which is second-best among all EuroBasket teams. That perfect record meant that Turkey won Group A, with Wednesday’s thrilling victory over second-place Serbia (a team featuring Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic) securing that placement.
The bad news is the only team better is Germany (5-0, +164), and that would be Turkey’s potential opponent in a September 12 semifinal. The German squad features established NBA names such as Franz Wagner, Dennis Schroder, and Daniel Theis (the latter two are former Rockets who briefly played with Sengun).
So, assuming both sides take care of business in the next two rounds, the level of competition is about to rise significantly. But for a Turkish program that, historically, has rarely advanced to the final stages of international competitions, they would undoubtedly love the stage and opportunity.
Turkey’s best-ever EuroBasket finish was a silver medal on home soil in 2001.
But as Sengun is surely aware, Turkey needs to keep winning to advance and potentially set up that semifinal showdown versus Germany. It starts with Saturday’s game in Latvia, which tips off at 4:00 a.m. Central.
Details on how to watch and stream are available at FIBA’s website.