The Japan men’s basketball national team match for the “FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifying Window 2” will be held on November 21st.
The opponent of the Japan men’s national team (21st in the FIBA rankings) is the Mongolian men’s national team (108th in the FIBA rankings). The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 pm at Nikkan Arena Tochigi.
■ Overview of the men’s representative from Japan vs. the men’s representative from Japan
The Japanese national team is currently competing for the right to participate in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025, which will be held next fall. In the preliminary rounds, 24 teams were divided into six groups, and the Japanese team was placed in Group C along with China (30th place), Guam (80th place), and Mongolia (108th place).
A total of six games will be played, home and away, and the top two teams in each group will be given the right to participate in the Asian Cup main tournament and the “FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Qualifiers.” For the Japanese national team, whose goal is to win at the Olympics, this is an important battle leading up to the World Cup and beyond that the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Japanese national team won two consecutive home games against Guam and China at the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifying Window 1 held in February 2024. They are currently in the lead in Group C and are hoping to build on their momentum with the match against the Mongolian national team. This will be a “restart” match under head coach Tom Horvath, who is scheduled to continue in October 2024, so the line-up will also be of interest.
●FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifying Window 2 Japan vs Mongolia
・Date and time: Thursday, November 21, 2024 19:00 Tip-off
・Tie: Men’s Japan representative vs. Men’s Marino representative
・Broadcast/Distribution: Live broadcast on Nippon Television, live distribution on TVer and DAZN
■ Members of the Japan men’s national team vs. the Mongolian men’s national team
The Japan Men’s Basketball National Team announced on October 25th that it has continued its contract with head coach Tom Horvath. It was restarted with an eye on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics four years later.
The training camp, which began on November 11th at the Ajinomoto National Training Center (Tokyo), had 23 participants, including 8 domestic members of the Paris Olympics, but Yuta Watanabe (Chiba Jets), Yudai Okada ( Kyoto Hannaries), Yasuki Shozabe, Kai Teves (both Alvark Tokyo), and Raita Ako (Akita Northern Happinets) withdrew due to poor condition. Hayato Yamaguchi (Nagasaki Veruca) and Yudai Nishida (Seahorse Mikawa) were additionally called up.
The lineup was forced to change from what the leaders had envisioned, but rookies such as Alex Kirk (Ryukyu Golden Kings) and Ryo Yamazaki (Hiroshima Dragonflies), who were called up for the first time under the Horvath regime, were forced to change. There are many exciting new players, including Masahiro Nowaki (Ryukyu Golden Kings) and Reion Watanabe (Fukuoka University Ohori High School), the youngest member of the team at 18 years old. Since no overseas teams will be able to participate in this national team’s activities, it will be interesting to see who will fill the command center position left by Yuki Kawamura (NBA Memphis Grizzlies).
The captain of the Japan national team in this activity will be Shin Hiejima (Utsunomiya Brex), who announced his intention to retire from the national team, saying, “This window is my last intention.” Although he hinted that the passing of the baton to the next generation was imminent, he said, “In order to avoid any regrets, the Olympics were an incomplete experience, so I hope I can play in a way that can erase that feeling.” Concentrate on the game ahead. You can’t take your eyes off the veteran’s every move, as he has a special feeling in his heart.
● 20 candidates for members of the Japan men’s national team
Shin Hiejima (SG/191cm/34 years old/Utsunomiya Brex)
Alex Kirk (C/211cm/33 years old/Ryukyu Golden Kings)
Ryo Yamazaki (SG/183cm/32 years old/Hiroshima Dragonflies)
Yuki Togashi (PG/167cm/31 years old/Chiba Jets)
Josh Hawkinson (C・PF/208cm/29 years old/Sunrockers Shibuya)
Yudai Baba (SF/196cm/29 years old/Nagasaki Veruca)
Takanari Sasaki (PG/180cm/28 years old/Sanen Neo Phoenix)
Shuntoshi Maki (SG/188 cm/26 years old/Osaka Evessa)
Sota Oura (PG/182cm/26 years old/Sanen Neo Phoenix)
Yutaka Yoshii (SF/196 cm/26 years old/Sanen Neo Phoenix)
Hiroya Kawasada (C/204cm/26 years old/Nagasaki Veruca)
Hayato Yamaguchi (SF/195cm/26 years old/Nagasaki Veruca)
Hiyu Watanabe (C/207cm/25 years old/Shinshu Brave Warriors)
Yudai Nishida (SG/190cm/25 years old/Seahorse Mikawa)
Soichiro Inoue (PF/201cm/25 years old/Koshigaya Alphars)
Taiki Tsunoda (SG/182 cm/25 years old/Saga Ballooners)
Takuto Nakamura (PG/184cm/23 years old/Hiroshima Dragonflies)
Masato Ichikawa (C/206cm/23 years old/Hiroshima Dragonflies)
Masahiro Waki (SG/193cm/22 years old/Ryukyu Golden Kings)
Rein Watanabe (C/204 cm/18 years old/Fukuoka University Ohori High School)
■ TV broadcast and online distribution of Japan Men’s National Team vs. Men’s Mongolia National Team
The “FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifying Window 2” men’s Japan national team vs. men’s Mongolian national team to be held on November 21st (Thursday) will be broadcast live on terrestrial TV on the Nippon Television network, as well as on the Internet video distribution service “DAZN” and “TVer”. ” will be streamed live.
Broadcasting and distribution will start from 19:00 on the day.
[FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifying Window2]
・Date and time: Thursday, November 21, 2024 19:00 Tip-off
・Tie: Men’s Japan representative vs. Men’s Marino representative
・Broadcast/Distribution: Live broadcast on Nippon Television, live distribution on DAZN and TVer
● Nippon Television series
・Program start: November 21st (Thursday) 19:00~
·cast
● DAZN
・Program start: November 21st (Thursday) 19:05~
·cast