Sengun and Giannis Take Underdog Turkey and Greece Past Another Elimination

The 2025 FIBA EuroBasket tournament is getting down to the wire! As of Wednesday morning, the quarterfinals are halfway through, and two of the four semi-finalists have been decided. Greece and Turkey both had huge wins and will face off in the semi-finals next Friday. 

Team Greece punched their ticket to the EuroBasket semi-finals with an emphatic win over Lithuania. Greece’s star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, continued his run of incredible performances this tournament with another dominant game. Giannis scored 29 points on only 15 shots from the field. He knocked down 11 free throws and added six rebounds and four steals to the statsheet as well. 

Like Greece, Team Turkey is also led by a star NBA center. Alperen Sengun has been one of the brightest stars of this EuroBasket tournament, and he continues to lead Turkey deep into the tournament, a surprise to many basketball fans. 

Turkey took down Poland in their quarter-final match 91-77. Sengun led the team in all major categories, notching 19 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, and three steals. Another former NBA player, Shane Larkin, was also instrumental in the win with 13 points and five assists. 

Now, NBA and basketball fans have a EuroBasket Semi-Finals matchup they can get super excited about. Giannis and Sengun are going to face off in the Greece vs Turkey matchup, and it should be a clash of two of the best big men in the game. 

Regardless of how that game plays out, EuroBasket has shown us that both Sengun and Giannis are going to enter the NBA season ready to compete. The Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets are both hoping to contend for a championship next season. The play of Sengun and Giannis should show their fan bases that those expectations are not unrealistic.