2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group A

Group A was one of eight groups of the preliminary round of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. It took place from 25 to 29 August 2023, and consisted of Angola, the Dominican Republic, Italy, and the Philippines.^[1][2] Each team played each other once, for a total of three games per team, with all but two games to be played at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Philippines. The top two teams advanced to the second round and the bottom two teams qualified for the classification rounds.^[3]

Dominican Republic v Philippines

Following the venue change for the final phase to the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, FIBA announced that the first two games of Group A would take place at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, the original venue for the final phase.^[4][5]

Teams

Team	Qualification		Appearance			Best performance	WR[6]
	As	Date	Last	Total	Streak
Angola	African Group E top two	25 February 2023	2019	9	6	9th place (2006)	41
Philippines	Host nation	9 December 2017		7	3	3rd place (1954)	40
Dominican Republic	Americas Group E top three	26 February 2023		4	3	12th place (1978)	23
Italy	European Group L top three	14 November 2022		10	2	4th place (1970, 1978)	10

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Dominican Republic	3	3	0	249	230	+19	6	Second round
2	Italy	3	2	1	253	237	+16	5
3	Angola	3	1	2	214	226	−12	4	17th–32nd classification
4	Philippines (H)	3	0	3	234	257	−23	3

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

Games

All times are local (UTC+8).^[7]

Angola vs. Italy

This was the third game between Angola and Italy in the World Cup and their second consecutive matchup. The Italians won the first two meetings in 1990 and 2019.

25 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

Angola	67–81	Italy
Scoring by quarter: 17–23, 23–20, 17–18, 10–20
Pts: Dundão 19 Rebs: five players 5 Asts: Gonçalves 4		Pts: Fontecchio 19 Rebs: Polonara 7 Asts: Spissu 7

Philippine Arena, Bocaue Attendance: 21,214 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Martin Vulić (CRO)

Dominican Republic vs. Philippines

This was the first game between the Dominican Republic and the Philippines in the World Cup. The Dominicans won in the 2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.

The match broke the record for the most attended FIBA World Cup match with 38,115 coming to the venue. This surpassed the 1994 FIBA World Championship final in Toronto between the United States and Russia which was witnessed by an audience of 32,616 people.^[8]

25 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

Dominican Republic	87–81	Philippines
Scoring by quarter: 22–18, 20–24, 24–22, 21–17
Pts: Towns 26 Rebs: Towns 10 Asts: Feliz 8		Pts: Clarkson 28 Rebs: Clarkson, Fajardo 7 Asts: Clarkson 7

Philippine Arena, Bocaue Attendance: 38,115 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Gatis Saliņš (LAT)

Italy vs. Dominican Republic

This was the first game between Italy and the Dominican Republic in the World Cup. The Italians won in the semi-finals of the 2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.

27 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

Italy	82–87	Dominican Republic
Scoring by quarter: 19–13, 20–25, 17–31, 26–18
Pts: Spissu 17 Rebs: Melli 7 Asts: Spissu 4		Pts: Feliz, Towns 24 Rebs: Towns 11 Asts: Montero 9

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 6,298 Referees: Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Luis Castillo (ESP), Georgios Poursanidis (GRE)

Philippines vs. Angola

This was the second game between the Philippines and Angola in the World Cup. The Angolans won the first meeting in 2019, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.

27 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

Philippines	70–80	Angola
Scoring by quarter: 19–12, 14–24, 19–20, 18–24
Pts: Clarkson 21 Rebs: Fajardo 7 Asts: Clarkson 7		Pts: Gonçalves 17 Rebs: Bango, Fernando 7 Asts: Domingos 7

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 12,784 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Martin Vulić (CRO)

Angola vs. Dominican Republic

This was the first competitive game between Angola and the Dominican Republic.

29 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

Angola	67–75	Dominican Republic
Scoring by quarter: 11–20, 21–17, 18–12, 17–26
Pts: De Sousa 19 Rebs: De Sousa 9 Asts: Dundão 7		Pts: Feliz 17 Rebs: Liz 8 Asts: Solano 4

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 4,769 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Luis Castillo (ESP), Martin Vulić (CRO)

Philippines vs. Italy

This was the third game between the Philippines and Italy in the World Cup and their second consecutive matchup. The Italians won the first two meetings in 1978 and 2019.

29 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

Philippines	83–90	Italy
Scoring by quarter: 23–20, 16–28, 21–25, 23–17
Pts: Clarkson 23 Rebs: Edu 8 Asts: Clarkson 6		Pts: Fontecchio 18 Rebs: three players 6 Asts: Spissu 9

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 11,821 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT)

Statistical leaders

Player tournament average

Points # Player Pld Pts PPG 1 Jordan Clarkson 3 72 24.0 2 Karl-Anthony Towns 3 58 19.3 3 Andrés Feliz 3 53 17.7 4 Simone Fontecchio 3 50 16.7 5 Bruno Fernando 3 40 13.3

Rebounds # Player Pld Rebs RPG 1 Karl-Anthony Towns 3 23 24.0 2 Silvio De Sousa 3 19 6.3 A. J. Edu 3 19 6.3 Nicolò Melli 3 19 6.3 5 June Mar Fajardo 3 18 6.0

Assists # Player Pld Asts APG 1 Jordan Clarkson 3 20 6.7 Marco Spissu 3 20 6.7 3 Andrés Feliz 3 15 5.0 Jean Montero 3 15 5.0 5 Gerson Domingos 3 14 4.7 Childe Dundão 3 14 4.7

Blocks # Player Pld Blks BPG 1 Nicolò Melli 3 5 1.7 2 A. J. Edu 3 4 1.3 Bruno Fernando 3 4 1.3 4 Gerson Gonçalves 3 3 1.0 Jean Montero 3 3 1.0

Steals # Player Pld Stls SPG 1 Víctor Liz 3 9 3.0 2 Childe Dundão 3 6 2.0 3 Bruno Fernando 3 5 1.7 Gerson Gonçalves 3 5 1.7 Jean Montero 3 5 1.7

Minutes # Player Pld Mins MPG 1 Jordan Clarkson 3 112 37.6 2 Dwight Ramos 3 89 29.9 3 A. J. Edu 3 89 29.7 4 Andrés Feliz 3 88 29.6 5 Simone Fontecchio 3 88 29.3

Free throws # Player FTM FTA FT% 1 Achille Polonara 3 13/14 92.9 2 Jordan Clarkson 3 21/23 91.3 3 Karl-Anthony Towns 3 24/27 88.9 4 Simone Fontecchio 3 11/13 84.6 5 Víctor Liz 3 7/9 77.8

Field goal shooting # Player FGM FGA FG% 1 Andrés Feliz 19 30 63.3 2 Bruno Fernando 15 31 48.4 3 Víctor Liz 14 29 48.3 4 Karl-Anthony Towns 14 35 40.0 5 Dwight Ramos 11 28 39.3

Efficiency

#	Player	Pld	MPG	PPG	Eff	EffPG
1	Víctor Liz	3	29.6	17.7	71.0	23.7
2	Karl-Anthony Towns	3	27.2	19.3	56.0	18.7
3	Jordan Clarkson	3	36.8	24.0	55.0	18.3
4	Marco Spissu	3	27.4	11.7	50.0	16.7
5	Nicolò Melli	3	27.3	7.7	48.0	16.0