MADRID, 18 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s basketball team will face Argentina this Friday (8:00 p.m.) at the Palacio Multiusos in Guadalajara, in what will be the penultimate friendly match for Sergio Scariolo’s men before the Olympic Games in Paris (France), scheduled from July 24 to August 11.
With point guard Juan Núñez and forward Joel Parra complementing Scariolo’s recent training sessions, and perhaps both with minutes throughout this match to regulate the key men, the Olympic date is approaching for Spain, which will test its skills against a rival that will not attend the great and imminent Parisian event.
The defeat suffered on August 21, 2023 against the Bahamas, in the Pre-Qualifying Tournament, did not cost Pablo Prigioni his job, as he remains as coach of a team whose prestige is being rebuilt. In fact, the ‘Albiceleste’ also did not play in the 2023 World Championship due to a key defeat against the Dominican Republic team.
To establish his new foundations on the bench, Prigioni has looked to the Spanish competitions, which he knows well. Nine of his 12 players called up for this summer’s friendly matches play in Spain, seven of whom played for Liga Endesa teams last season and two for LEB Oro clubs.
These last two, center Francisco Caffaro (Movistar Estudiantes) and forward Patricio ‘Pato’ Garino (Baloncesto Fuenlabrada), will go from being opponents in the Spanish capital to coinciding from the 2024/25 season in the ‘telefónico’ club. Of the rest of Prigioni’s list, the outside game that Real Madrid brings to the table stands out above all.
Forward Gaby Deck and especially point guard Facu Campazzo, named MVP of the 2023/24 Endesa League, are two pillars in a cast that includes Nico Laprovittola, point guard for FC Barcelona; Juani Marcos, point guard for Bàsquet Girona; Juampi Vaulet, forward for BAXI Manresa; Nico Brussino, forward for Dreamland Gran Canaria; and Juan Fernández, center for Río Breogán who recently signed for Bàsquet Girona.
Scariolo will be testing a few matches against a squad already defined for the Olympics, regardless of whether or not Núñez and Parra will be in action on the Guadalajara pitch. It will be a match with a presumable excitement for the pivot Usman Garuba, raised in Azuqueca de Henares and who is in the middle of negotiating his future, aiming for a return to Real Madrid.
Alongside him, the brothers Willy and Juancho Hernangómez will have another chance to establish themselves as key players in the low post. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Brown will take on more of the role of playmaker, Xabi López-Arostegui will once again be a key factor in defence and the veterans Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernández will hone their aim.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT:
SPAIN: Brown, Llull, Lopez-Arostegui, Aldama and Willy Hernangomez –possible starting five–; Juancho Hernangomez, Abrines, Brizuela, Diaz, Garuba, Pradilla, Rudy Fernandez, Nunez and Parra.
ARGENTINA: Campazzo, Deck, Brussino, Vildoza and Caffaro –possible initial quinteto–; Redivo, Garino, Bolmaro, Laprovittola, Marcos, Vaulet and Juan Fernández.
–PAVILION: Guadalajara Multipurpose Palace.
–TIME: 20.00/Teledeporte.