Italy team for EuroBasket 2021 qualification

The Italy team for EuroBasket 2021 qualification will represent Italy at the EuroBasket 2021 qualification. Italy has already qualified for the EuroBasket 2021 being one of the host countries.

Italy

2020-21 season
President	Gianni Petrucci
Head coach	Romeo Sacchetti
Qualifiers	Scheduled
PIR leader	Giampaolo Ricci 22.5
Scoring leader	Giampaolo Ricci 18.5
Rebounding leader	Giampaolo Ricci 5.5
Assists leader	Marco Spissu 9
Highest home attendance	4000 vs Russia (20 February 2020)
Lowest home attendance	4000 vs Russia (20 February 2020)
Average home attendance	4000 vs Russia (20 February 2020)
Biggest win	83–64 vs Russia (20 February 2020)
Home Away
All statistics correct as of February 23, 2020.

Timeline

• 20–23 February 2020: The first window
• 27–30 November 2020: The second window
• 18–21 February 2021: The third window

Roster

The following 16 players were called by coach Meo Sacchetti for the first two games against Russia and Estonia on 20th and 23rd of February 2020.[1] Andrea Pecchia was originally called, forming a delegation of 16 players, but due to a sprained ankle, he couldn't join the team in the first qualification period.[2] He was replaced by Matteo Tambone.[3] The Venezia players De Nicolao and Tonut had to leave the team, as well, due to light injuries.[4]

Italy national basketball team – FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 0 Marco Spissu 24 – (1995-02-05)5 February 1995 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Dinamo Sassari SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 24 – (1995-09-12)12 September 1995 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Pallacanestro Reggiana F/C 14 Andrea Mezzanotte 21 – (1998-04-08)8 April 1998 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Aquila Trento C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 25 – (1994-10-07)7 October 1994 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Universo Treviso Basket PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 28 – (1991-09-27)27 September 1991 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) Virtus Bologna PG 18 Matteo Spagnolo 16 – (2003-10-01)1 October 2003 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Real Madrid SG 22 Giordano Bertolani 19 – (2000-12-02)2 December 2000 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Pallacanestro Biella PF 24 Filippo Baldi Rossi 28 – (1991-10-26)26 October 1991 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Virtus Bologna PG 25 Michele Ruzzier 26 – (1993-02-09)9 February 1993 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Vanoli Cremona PG 30 Matteo Tambone 25 – (1994-05-14)14 May 1994 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Pallacanestro Varese SG 31 Michele Vitali (C) 28 – (1991-10-31)31 October 1991 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Dinamo Sassari C 35 Leonardo Totè  22 – (1997-07-08)8 July 1997 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) V.L. Pesaro F 45 Nicola Akele 22 – (1997-11-07)7 November 1997 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Vanoli Cremona C 55 Francesco Candussi 25 – (1994-02-23)23 February 1994 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Scagliera Verona	Head coach Romeo Sacchetti Assistant coach(es) Lele Molin Massimo Maffezzoli Paolo Conti Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition

While the following player where called for backup. Matteo Tambone was initially in the reserves list, but then moved to the main team because of Pecchia's injury.

Italy national basketball team – FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers reserves
Players
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club ! Ctr. SG Campogrande, Luca 23 – (1996-04-30)30 April 1996 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) New Basket Brindisi PG Candi, Leonardo 22 – (1997-03-30)30 March 1997 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Pallacanestro Reggiana PF Gaspardo, Raphael 26 – (1993-08-03)3 August 1993 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) New Basket Brindisi

Staff

Position	Staff member	Age	Team
Head coach	Romeo Sacchetti	66	Vanoli Cremona
Assistant coaches	Emanuele Molin	60	Aquila Trento
	Massimo Maffezzoli	44	Eurobasket Roma
	Paolo Conti	50	Italian Basketball Federation
Physical trainer	Matteo Panichi	47	Italian Basketball Federation
Physician	Sandro Senzameno	67	Italian Basketball Federation
Orthopaedic	Raffaele Cortina	60	Italian Basketball Federation
Osteopath	Roberto Oggioni	45	Italian Basketball Federation
	Francesco Ciallella	40	Italian Basketball Federation
Team manager	Massimo Valle	54	Italian Basketball Federation
Press officer	Francesco D'Aniello	39	Italian Basketball Federation
Manager	Roberto Brunamonti	61	Italian Basketball Federation
Video maker	Marco Cremonini	32	Italian Basketball Federation
Equipment manager	Curzio Garofoli	50	Italian Basketball Federation
	Andrea Annessa	46	Italian Basketball Federation

Source:

Qualification

The draw was held on 22 July 2019 in Munich, Germany. Italy was drawn into Group B with Finland, Georgia and Russia.[5] These matches will be played in three windows from 17 to 25 February 2020; from 23 November to 1 December 2020 and from 15 to 23 February 2021 with two games played by each team in every window.[6].[7]

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	2	2	0	170	145	+25	4	EuroBasket 2022 as host
2	Estonia	2	1	1	162	159	+3	3	EuroBasket 2022
3	Russia	2	1	1	141	150	−9	3
4	North Macedonia	2	0	2	139	158	−19	2

Updated to match(es) played on 23 February 2020. Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

vs Russia

Leonardo Totè had incurred in an injury on the right eye the same day of the match and, because of the FIBA regulation, he couldn't be replaced.[8]

Italy  v  Russia

20 February 2019 1	Italy	83–64	Russia	Naples, Italy
20:30 (GMT+1)	Scoring by quarter: 26-24, 15-9, 21-18, 21-13
Livebasketball.tv, Sky Sport Arena	Pts: Ricci 19 Rebs: Ricci, Fontecchio 7 Asts: Spissu 10 PIR: Ricci 22	Boxscore	Pts: Kulagin 17 Rebs: Antipov 6 Asts: Kulagin 8 PIR: Antipov 20	Arena: PalaBarbuto Attendance: 4000 Referees: Antonio Conde (ESP), Martin Vulic (CRO), Fernando Calatrava (ESP)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 0 Marco Spissu 10 4 10 SG 31 Michele Vitali 15 4 3 SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 10 7 1 PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 19 7 1 C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 6 5 3 Reserves: PG 18 Matteo Spagnolo 3 1 1 SG 22 Giordano Bertolani 3 0 0 PF 24 Filippo Baldi Rossi 7 3 0 PG 25 Michele Ruzzier 7 2 2 SG 30 Matteo Tambone 0 0 0 C 35 Leonardo Totè DNP PF 45 Nicola Akele 3 4 0 Head coach: Romeo Sacchetti

Italy Russia 0 Italy Statistics Russia 18/33 (54.5%) 2-pt field goals 12/27 (44.4%) 13/26 (50.0%) 3-pt field goals 9/30 (30.0%) 8/13 (61.5%) Free throws 13/19 (68.4%) 9 Offensive rebounds 4 32 Defensive rebounds 22 41 Total rebounds 26 21 Assists 15 20 Turnovers 14 6 Steals 9 3 Blocks 2 21 Fouls 22

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 19 Ivan Strebkov 0 1 2 SG 22 Dmitry Kulagin 17 2 8 SF 7 Vitaly Fridzon 6 1 1 PF 32 Pavel Antipov 14 6 1 C 8 Vladimir Ivlev 10 3 0 Reserves: PG 2 Andrei Sopin 0 0 0 SG 4 Evgeny Baburin 0 2 0 PG 5 Denis Zakharov 6 1 0 PG 6 Grigory Motovilov 10 1 1 PF 21 Stanislav Ilnitskiy 0 1 2 C 31 Evgeny Valiev 3 3 0 C 64 Artem Klimenko 0 0 0 Head coach: Sergei Bazarevich

@ Estonia

Estonia  v  Italy

23 February 2019 2	Estonia	81–87	Italy	Tallinn, Estonia
19:00 (GMT+2)	Scoring by quarter: 18-18, 29-23, 14-18, 20-28
Livebasketball.tv, Sky Sport HD	Pts: Kitsing 22 Rebs: Jõesaar 9 Asts: Kullamäe 6 PIR: Kitsing 22	Boxscore	Pts: Vitali 22 Rebs: Ricci, Vitali, Akele 4 Asts: Spissu 8 PIR: Ricci 23	Arena: Saku Suurhall Attendance: 7500 Referees: Aleksandar Glisić (SRB), Martin Horozov (BGR), Andrei Sharapa (BLR)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 77 Kristian Kullamäe 17 2 6 SG 2 Sander Raieste 3 5 1 SF 21 Janari Jõesaar 7 9 2 PF 11 Siim-Sander Vene 21 5 2 C 33 Kristjan Kitsing 22 3 1 Reserves: SF 0 Henri Drell 5 1 0 PF 3 Kregor Hermet 2 1 1 SG 4 Rain Veideman 2 2 1 SF 13 Kaspar Treier 0 1 0 C 20 Rauno Nurger 2 1 0 PG 22 Martin Dorbek 0 0 0 PG 44 Kerr Kriisa 0 1 5 Head coach: Jukka Toijala

Estonia Italy 0 Estonia Statistics Italy 15/31 (48.4%) 2-pt field goals 21/32 (65.6%) 13/36 (36.1%) 3-pt field goals 10/26 (38.5%) 12/14 (85.7%) Free throws 15/18 (83.3%) 16 Offensive rebounds 10 17 Defensive rebounds 20 33 Total rebounds 30 19 Assists 20 18 Turnovers 16 8 Steals 10 3 Blocks 3 20 Fouls 18

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 0 Marco Spissu 9 2 8 SG 31 Michele Vitali 22 4 1 SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 9 3 1 PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 18 4 6 C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 6 2 0 Reserves: PG 18 Matteo Spagnolo 0 0 0 SG 22 Giordano Bertolani DNP PF 24 Filippo Baldi Rossi 10 2 1 PG 25 Michele Ruzzier 2 1 2 SG 30 Matteo Tambone 0 2 0 PF 45 Nicola Akele 8 4 0 C 55 Francesco Candussi 3 3 1 Head coach: Romeo Sacchetti

vs North Macedonia

Italy  v  North Macedonia

27 November 2019 3	Italy	vs.	North Macedonia	Italy

@ Russia

Russia  v  Italy

30 November 2019 4	Russia	vs.	Italy	Russia

vs Estonia

Italy  v  Estonia

18 February 2019 5	Italy	vs.	Estonia	Italy

@ North Macedonia

North Macedonia  v  Italy

21 February 2019 6	North Macedonia	vs.	Italy	North Macedonia

Statistics

Individual statistics

No.	Player	GC	GP	GS	MPG	2FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	EF	PPG
0	Marco Spissu	2	2	2	29.4	60.0% (1.5/2.5)	33.3% (1.5/4.5)	80.0% (2.0/2.5)	3.0	9.0	1.5	0.0	16.0	9.5
13	Simone Fontecchio	2	2	2	29.3	40.0% (2.0/5.0)	50.0% (1.5/3.0)	100% (1.0/1.0)	5.0	1.0	1.5	0.5	10.5	9.5
16	Amedeo Tessitori	2	2	2	11.9	100% (2.0/2.0)	-	57.1% (2.0/3.5)	3.5	1.5	0.5	0.5	7.0	6.0
17	Giampaolo Ricci	2	2	2	30.8	58.3% (3.5/6.0)	58.3% (3.5/6.0)	100% (1.0/1.0)	5.5	3.5	1.5	1.0	22.5	18.5
18	Matteo Spagnolo	2	2	0	7.8	33.3% (0.5/1.5)	-	100% (0.5/0.5)	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.5	1.5
22	Giordano Bortolani	2	1	0	3.9	-	100% (1.0/1.0)	-	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.0	3.0
24	Filippo Baldi Rossi	2	2	0	13.6	58.3% (3.6/6.0)	25.0% (0.5/2.0)	-	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	7.5	8.5
25	Michele Ruzzier	2	2	0	15.4	50.0% (1.0/2.0)	33.3% (0.5/1.5)	50.0% (1.0/2.0)	1.5	2.0	0.5	0.0	3.0	4.5
30	Matteo Tambone	2	2	0	4.9	-	0.0% (0.0/0.5)	-	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-0.5	0.0
31	Michele Vitali	2	2	2	32.5	70.0% (3.5/5.0)	38.5% (2.5/6.5)	80.0% (4.0/5.0)	4.0	2.0	1.0	0.0	18.5	18.5
35	Leonardo Totè	1	0	0	0.0	-	-	-	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
45	Nicola Akele	2	2	0	19.5	80.0% (2.0/2.5)	50.0% (0.5/1.0)	-	4.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	9.0	5.5
55	Francesco Candussi	1	1	0	5.8	-	100% (1.0/1.0)	-	3.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	7.0	3.0

Individual game highs

Total Player Opponent Points 22 Michele Vitali @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Total Rebounds 7 Simone Fontecchio Giampaolo Ricci vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Assists 10 Marco Spissu vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Blocks 2 Giampaolo Ricci @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Steals 3 Simone Fontecchio @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Efficiency 23 Giampaolo Ricci @  Estonia (23/2/2020) 2-point field goal percentage^1 80% (4/5) Michele Vitali vs  Russia (20/2/2020) 3-point field goal percentage 100% (1/1) Giordano Bertolani vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Francesco Candussi @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Free throw percentage 100% (4/4) Amedeo Tessitori @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Turnovers 5 Amedeo Tessitori vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Minutes 34.4 Michele Vitali @  Estonia (23/2/2020) ^1– at least 5 attempts

Total Player Opponent 2-point field goals made 5 Filippo Baldi Rossi @  Estonia (23/2/2020) 2-point field goals attempted 7 Giampaolo Ricci vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Filippo Baldi Rossi @  Estonia (23/2/2020) 3-point field goals made 4 Giampaolo Ricci @  Estonia (23/2/2020) 3-point field goals attempted 8 Giampaolo Ricci @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Free throws made 7 Michele Vitali @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Free throws attempted 8 Michele Vitali @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Offensive Rebounds 3 Giampaolo Ricci vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Defensive Rebounds 7 Simone Fontecchio vs  Russia (20/2/2020)

Team game highs

Statistic Total Opponent Points 87 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Total Rebounds 41 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Assists 21 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Blocks 3 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Steals 8 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Efficiency 87 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) 2-point field goal percentage 54.5% vs  Russia (20/2/2020) 3-point field goal percentage 50.0% vs  Russia (20/2/2020) Free throw percentage 85.7% @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Turnovers 20 vs  Russia (20/2/2020)

Statistic Total Opponent 2-point field goals made 18 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) 2-point field goals attempted 33 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) 3-point field goals made 13 vs  Russia (20/2/2020) @  Estonia (23/2/2020) 3-point field goals attempted 36 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Free throws made 12 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Free throws attempted 14 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Offensive Rebounds 16 @  Estonia (23/2/2020) Defensive Rebounds 32 vs  Russia (20/2/2020)

See also

• EuroBasket 2021 qualification

References

1. "FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers I 16 convocati per il raduno di Napoli (17 febbraio). La linea verde di coach Sacchetti: "Costruire per il futuro"" (in Italian). fip.it. 4 February 2020.
2. "Andrea Pecchia non parteciperà al raduno di Napoli (distorsione alla caviglia). Dino Meneghin Capo Delegazione Azzurro a Tallinn" (in Italian). fip.it. 10 February 2020.
3. "Matteo Tambone convocato per il raduno di Napoli e per le gare contro Russia (20/02) ed Estonia (23/02)" (in Italian). fip.it. 12 February 2020.
4. "De Nicolao e Tonut autorizzati a lasciare il raduno. Giovedì 20 febbraio la sfida alla Russia (20.30) PalaBarbuto verso il sold-out" (in Italian). fip.it. 12 February 2020.
5. "Draw results in for FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers". FIBA. 14 August 2019.
6. "Road to World Cup 2019 and EuroBasket 2021" (PDF). FIBA.
7. "Seedings confirmed ahead of FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers Draw". FIBA. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
8. "FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers. Leonardo Totè non prenderà parte al match contro la Russia. Lieve infortunio all'occhio destro" (in Italian). fip.it. 20 February 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Italy Qualifiers Profile at the FIBA Website