The French basketball team, running in, succeeded in the first test of its preparation for the euro (August 27-September 14) by beating the Montenegro 81 to 75 in Mouilleron-le-Captif (Vendée) on Monday.
In a Vendéspace Archicomble for a preparation match in the middle of summer, the Blues built their success thanks to a stifling defense that limited the Montenegrins to 27 small points for an entire half-time where they conceded 38 others.
The Blues, now cornocked by Frédéric Faith after the long term of Vincent Collet (15 years old), were only carried out two minutes (2-5). From there, they were aggressive and took control of the match, in the wake of the young Alexandre Sarr (2.13 m) who offered a good replica to the experienced Nikola Vacevic (2.08 m) in their interiors of NBA.
After their debauchery of efforts in the first half, the Blues drew in the third quarter, allowing Montenegrins, worn by the address of Vacevic (16 pts, 19 in total) to pick up (55-57, 29th) at the end of a sequence of 7-0.
In the absence of the Victor Wembanyama executives, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier or Mathias Lessort, all Olympic vice-champions, some players have scored points in the optics of the twelve who will go to the Euro.
Blues winger Bilal Coulibaly goes beyond Montenegrin Andrija Slavkovic in preparation for Eurobasket on August 4, 2025 in Vendépace
Sebastien Solomon-Gomis / AFP
Alexandre Sarr, the N.2 of the Draft 2024 made its ability to stretch the defense and to plant at three points, but also to protect painting, while his teammate at the Washington Wizards Bilal Coulibaly and the Parisian French champion Nadir Hifi were effective each time they walked the prosecution. Highly anticipated, Zaccharie Risacher, N. 1 of the same draft, was in difficulty.
If it is difficult to learn from this back -to -school match, the coach could have appreciated the enormous potential of his group and noted, like downside, the abuse of the external game which at times looked like a three -point competition.
Olympic vice-champions will continue their preparation against Great Britain on Friday in Pau, before a double confrontation against Spain in Badalone on the 14th and two days later in Paris.
