Ukraine NT is preparing to fight in the EuroBasket 2022 and the FIBA World Cup qualifiers this summer and Toronto Raptors and team’s guard Svi Mykhailiuk claimed that anything is possible for his team.
Mykhailiuk had 20 points, five rebounds and three steals in a warmup game at Finland on Thursday night in Jyvaskyla that the Susijengi won, 97-94, after overtime. The Finns’ NBA star, Lauri Markkanen, who like Mykhailiuk is 25 years of age, had a game-high 42 points.
Mykhailiuk who established a role in the NBA the last two years will be among the players coming off from the best league in the wolrd alongside superstars like Giannis Antetoounmpo, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic.
“This EuroBasket especially has a lot of guys my age, a little younger and a little older that have made it to the NBA,” Mykhailiuk told FIBA.com. “There are a lot of superstars on NBA level coming back to play for their national teams.
It’s going to be an interesting EuroBasket, a really exciting EuroBasket for fans because they are going to see a lot of NBA players, NBA superstars at the highest level of Europe.”
As of what he expects from the team, especially during these hard times for the Ukrainian people, ‘fight for every possession, play hard’. Before the start of EuroBasket, Ukraine will play two games for the FIBA Basketball World Cup second phase.
“We’re going to play hard, win every game possible,” he said. “At the EuroBasket, anything is possible. I feel like we have one of the best Ukrainian teams in history and we’re capable of surprising a lot of people and showing a really good result.”
Ukraine will go up against Italy (August 24) and Iceland (August 27), before travelling to Milan for the preliminary round of EuroBasket. Mykhailiuk and co. will start against Great Britain in Group C with games against Estonia, Italy, Greece and Croatia to follow.
