NBL stars shine on global stage

Photo: fiba.basketball.

It was a busy FIBA Break for many of the NBL's stars, with a raft of players representing their countries at various tournaments across the world.

NBL Media highlights the standout performers, key highlights and more. 

Australia qualified for the Asia Cup with two dominant victories over Thailand and South Korea. The back-to-back champions were led by Chris Goulding who was simply unstoppable across the two games. Melbourne United’s sharpshooter hit an absurd 19 threes across the two games, putting up 58 points and leading the Boomers to victory. His United teammate, Kyle Bowen, was a late addition to the squad and fit in seamlessly with 6 rebounds against Thailand and seven points against Korea. 

Outside of Goulding, it was Perth Wildcat young gun Ben Henshall, who was most impressive in the two wins. After his all-round effort of 12 points, 7 rebounds and eight assists against Thailand, he backed that up with a 16-point, 8-rebound game against Korea. Playing predominantly as the starting point guard, Henshall shone with the opportunity to be a playmaker on the international level. Another young star, Rocco Zikarsky, flashed his potential against Thailand with 11 points and 4 rebounds to go with several highlights.

DJ Vasiljevic had 14 points against Thailand and struggled to be effective from the field against Korea, but still managed to put up 8 points and 7 rebounds in the win. The Illawarra Hawks trio of Sam Froling, Will Hickey and Lachlan Olbrich all had their respective moments in the two games that were important for the Boomers success. Hickey’s defensive intensity and ability to crash the glass was on display once again, where the two big men also cleaned it up on the boards, with Froling pulling down nine rebounds against Korea. 

On the other side of the action was Hawks shooter, Hyunjung Lee, who had a successful international break representing his home country. In the loss to Australia, Lee had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists as he did all he could to slow down his Hawks teammates. It was against Indonesia where he had his best performances, notching up 12 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists on the way to a big win.

The Tall Blacks had a mixed bag of performances during their qualifying action, with a shock loss to the Philippines to begin, before a big win over Chinese Taipei on Monday. Sam Waardenburg was the standout for New Zealand across both games, with 19 points and 7 rebounds in the loss, before putting up 16 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists in their much-needed win. 

New Zealand had multiple changes in their roster between the two games, but the other consistent performer was South East Melbourne forward, Tom Vodanovich, who had 19 points and 11 points across the two games.

Tasmania development player, Walter Brown, was a solid contributor across both games with 5 points and 9 rebounds in the loss, before leading the defensive charge in their win over Taipei. 

Hyrum Harris and Shea Ili were late additions during the break and only suited up for the second game with Tyrell Harrison and others sitting out. Harris was brilliant all game with 9 points and 13 rebounds in the win, and Ili was as solid as ever with 12 points and 8 assists himself.

In other action around the world, Perth Next Star Izan Almansa had a real bright patch for Spain in their first win over Slovakia, with 10 points in as many minutes of action. On the other side of the world, Karim Lopez had 5 points and 3 rebounds in Mexico's nine-point win, before sitting out their second game due to injury management. 

Finally, South Sudan had a mixed bag of results in the break with a big win over Mali and a shock loss to DR Congo. The number one team in Africa were led by Cairns guard Jackson Makoi, who had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists in the loss and 8 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists in their win. Illawarra’s Kuany Kuany was another standout across the break, highlighting his opportunities with a 17-point, 5-rebound display over Mali.