Korea’s Eddie Daniel dunks against Japan during their Group B Window 3 first-round Asian qualifier for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup at Goyang Sono Arena in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on July 6.NEWS1
Korea clawed back from the brink of elimination, beating Japan on Monday to reach the second round of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifiers.
The Korean team, ranked 56th in the world, led by Latvian head coach Nikolajs Mazurs, narrowly beat Japan, ranked 22nd, 81-79 at the Goyang Sono Arena in the final game of Group B of the first round of Asian qualifiers for the Basketball World Cup. With ace Lee Hyun-jung away for the NBA Summer League showcase, Lee Woo-suk led the team with a game-high 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Choi Jun-yong added 16 points to seal the win.
The result pulled Korea back from the brink of an early exit and sent the team through to the next round. Korea finished the first round with three wins and three losses, taking second place in Group B behind Japan. China finished third due to a worse head-to-head record against Korea. Taiwan finished fourth and was eliminated.
In the first round of Asian qualifying for the Basketball World Cup, 16 teams were divided into four groups of four, with the top three in each group advancing to the second round. Japan is considered one of Asia's two strongest teams along with Australia, but none of its NBA players took part in the game. Mazurs, who took charge of the national team earlier this year as the first foreign head coach in program history, picked up his first win as head coach in his fourth game.
Under Mazurs, Korea lost to both Taiwan and Japan in its third and fourth games in February and March, then was pushed to the brink after an 80-82 comeback loss to Taiwan in its fifth game on Friday. The performance against Japan was not one to celebrate outright either, as Korea struggled for much of the game and was only able to turn things around because of a string of Japanese turnovers down the stretch. Despite a month of training camp, Korea's shooting accuracy and team organization were shaky throughout.
Korea team's head coach Nicholas Mazurs looks at the scoreboard during Korea’s Group B Window 3 first-round Asian qualifier against Japan for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup at Goyang Sono Arena in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on July 7.NEWS1
In the second round of qualifying, Korea is slated to be grouped in Group F with Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China as they compete for a spot in the final tournament. A top-three finish in the group secures direct qualification, while the fourth-place team will face the fourth-place team from Group E in a playoff for one remaining berth. A feature of the second round is that teams carry over their first-round results into the new group standings. Korea will play a home-and-away series against Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — teams it did not face in the first round — from August through next March.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup, featuring 32 teams, will open in Qatar on Aug. 27 next year.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
