Turkey's national basketball team will take on Latvia in a FIBA World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers Group B match on Friday.
The qualifying group matches for Turkey will begin Friday in Bursa's TOFAŞ Sports Hall at 7 p.m. local time (GMT1600).
The 14-man squad for Turkey is missing some key NBA players, such as Furkan Korkmaz and Cedi Osman, who are in the U.S. for league matches.
Two Fenerbahçe Doğuş players, Sinan Güler and Barış Hersek, were also not invited due to their team's Turkish Airlines Euroleague fixture clash.
The last time Turkey was matched against Latvia was during EuroBasket 2017 this summer, with Latvia beating the Turkish side 89-79.
Here is the squad list for the Turkish national basketball team ahead of the Latvia match:
Doğuş Balbay, Birkan Batuk (Anadolu Efes), Melih Mahmutoğlu (Fenerbahçe Dogus), Tolga Geçim (Banvit), Sertaç Şanlı, Semih Erden (Beşiktaş Sompo Japan), Furkan Aldemir (Darüşşafaka), Göksenin Koksal, Ege Arar (Galatasaray Odeabank), Berk İbrahim Uğurlu, Metin Türen, Alp Karahan (Pınar Karşıyaka), Metecan Birsen (Sakarya Büyükşehir Belediyespor), Barış Ermiş (TOFAŞ).
The national team nicknamed the "12 Giant Men" locally suffered a streak of losses in last summer's Europe championship that Turkey hosted, and secured only two wins before conceding to Spain in the last 16 round.
Rescheduling of qualifiers from the off-season to the first season proved a challenge for the line-up as many play for NBA or European teams.
Coach Ufuk Sarıca counts on home game advantage and "fervent basketball fans" for a win against Latvia. Speaking at a press conference, Sarıca said their roster was also younger than the past line-ups. "We have players with high energy and the average age in the team is 25. This will have a good impact," he said. Sarıca also criticized the clash of scheduling in the THY Europe League and FIBA games that forced him to change the line-up. "I don't think it is a good system. There has to be an agreement on the matter or it will hurt the international basketball. Players are forced to decide. It is a big problem," Sarıca says. The Turkish national team won seven out of the past 10 matches against Latvia and suffered losses in the remaining three games. In four official matches, Turkey lost only one. The team scored 784 points in total in games against Latvia.
The two teams first squared off in European championship qualifiers in 1997 where Turkey beat Latvia 84-74. However, the latest home game on Sep. 7 ended with a 89-79 defeat.
