"Basketball men's World Cup first round, Japan national team 89-109 Australian national team" (29th, Okinawa Arena)

Japan, ranked 36th in the world, lost to Australia (3rd place), who won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, in the final match of the first round. They did not break through the primary league and make a history, and were to go to the 17th to 32nd place deciding league.

Pushed by the opponent's physicality from the beginning, Keisei Tominaga (University of Nebraska) and Yuki Kawamura (Yokohama BC)'s 3-point shots did not succeed. Mistakes piled up in the defense that they showed against Finland, and there was a 20-point difference at the end. However, among them, Yuta Watanabe (Suns) scored 24 points, and Josh Hawkinson (SR Shibuya) also showed the team's highest score of 33 points, surpassing the opponent in the total points in the second half.

They put up a good fight against the world's third-ranked team, Germany scored only 85 points against them. Coach Tom Hovasse said, "There are only few teams that can score 89 points against Australia. They did very well." Yudai Baba (independent) also said, "It doesn't matter who the opponent in Japanese basketball. I've been saying this ever since the coach Hovasse came. We have a core, so we're even in the second half. I haven't been able to fight against the All-Star members for 40 minutes. I have nothing but hope now," he said, looking forward.