Men's basketball team taking on Saudi Arabia to begin Asian Games

The men's basketball team will start its Asian Games tournament in Japan on Thursday, the first official action for Korea at the continental competition with the team pursuing its first gold in 12 years.

Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, Korea will play Saudi Arabia for its first Group A game of the men's hoops tournament of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The tipoff is 4 p.m. at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya.

The game comes nine days before the opening ceremony of the Asian Games. Preliminary games for team sports such as basketball, football and volleyball are typically held in the days before the opening ceremony.

Korea will next play Indonesia at 4 p.m. on Friday and then the host country Japan at 7 p.m. on Sunday — all at the same Nagoya venue.

A dozen nations have been divided into three groups of four. The top two teams from each group, plus the two best third-place teams, will progress to the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals are set for next Wednesday, followed by the semifinals on Sept. 18. Both the bronze medal game and the gold medal game will be Sept. 20, the day after the opening ceremony.

Korea last won an Asian Games gold in men's basketball in 2014 as the host nation. The team staged a dramatic late comeback to beat Iran 79-77 for the title, as it rallied from a five-point deficit with two minutes to play.

Korea settled for bronze four years later in Jakarta and then lost to the home team China in the quarterfinals of the 2023 competition in Hangzhou.

The Philippines soared to the gold medal then, the first time a country other than Korea or China won the men's basketball gold at an Asian Games since 1974.

Korea defeated the Philippines in both of their exhibition games at home over the weekend, by the scores of 81-55 and then 69-42, though the Philippines did not bring their best players.

Before those two wins, Korea defeated Saudi Arabia 85-72 in the Asian qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

These three straight wins represent the first winning streak for Mazurs, who took the reins in December 2025. He is the first foreign national to lead the Korean men's national basketball team.

Those victories, though, were preceded by consecutive losses to Japan in exhibition contests in Tokyo in August.

To get the better of Japan this time, Korea will look to a couple of U.S. college products, forwards Lee Hyun-jung and Yeo Jun-seok, to lead the way.

After playing at Davidson, Lee, 25, has spent his professional career in Australia and Japan. He recently played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Summer League and earned an invite to training camp for another NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers, by signing an Exhibit 10 contract with them this week.

Yeo, 24, is playing with Seattle University, following a transfer from Gonzaga after two seasons.

These two combined for 43 points in the earlier win over Saudi Arabia and will need to keep carrying the offense for a team that has recently struggled from the field.