2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group B

Group B was one of eight groups of the preliminary round of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. It took place from 26 to 30 August 2023 and consisted of South Sudan, Serbia, China, and Puerto Rico.^[1][2] Each team played each other once, for a total of three games per team, with all games 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]

Opening of the China vs. South Sudan match at the Araneta Coliseum.

Teams

Team	Qualification		Appearance			Best performance	WR[4]
	As	Date	Last	Total	Streak
South Sudan	African Group F top two	24 February 2023	—	1	1	Debut	63
Serbia	European Group I top three	27 February 2023	2019	7	7	Champions (1998, 2002)	6
China	Asian Group F top three	14 November 2022		10	2	8th place (1994)	27
Puerto Rico	Americas Group F top three	26 February 2023		15	10	4th place (1990)	21

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Serbia	3	3	0	314	223	+91	6	Second round
2	Puerto Rico	3	2	1	285	279	+6	5
3	South Sudan	3	1	2	268	285	−17	4	17th–32nd classification
4	China	3	0	3	221	301	−80	3

Source: FIBA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Games

All times are local (UTC+8).^[5]

South Sudan vs. Puerto Rico

This was the first competitive game between South Sudan and Puerto Rico.

26 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

South Sudan	96–101 (OT)	Puerto Rico
Scoring by quarter: 29–24, 23–18, 15–18, 14–21, Overtime: 15–20
Pts: Jones 38 Rebs: Gabriel, Shayok 7 Asts: Jones 11		Pts: Thompson Jr. 21 Rebs: Thompson Jr. 13 Asts: Waters 11

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 3,166 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Luis Castillo (ESP), Carlos Peralta (ECU)

Serbia vs. China

This was the first game between Serbia and China in the World Cup. The Serbians won two of the three Olympic Games matches: 1996 as Yugoslavia and 2016 as Serbia. The Chinese won in the 2004 Olympics.

26 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

Serbia	105–63	China
Scoring by quarter: 25–14, 30–20, 22–13, 28–16
Pts: Bogdanović, Marinković 14 Rebs: Milutinov, Ristić 6 Asts: Gudurić, S. Jović 6		Pts: Zhao R. 17 Rebs: Cui, Zhou 5 Asts: Zhao J. 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 7,292 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)

China vs. South Sudan

This was the first competitive game between China and South Sudan which ended as a victory for the latter. This is South Sudan's first ever World Cup win.^[6]

28 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

China	69–89	South Sudan
Scoring by quarter: 14–22, 26–22, 13–19, 16–26
Pts: Li 22 Rebs: Li 5 Asts: Zhao J. 4		Pts: Jones 21 Rebs: Maluach 6 Asts: Jones 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 4,416 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Martin Vulić (CRO)

Puerto Rico vs. Serbia

This was the second game between Puerto Rico and Serbia in the World Cup. The Serbians won their last meeting in 2019 and also won in the final of the 2016 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and in the semi-finals of the 2020 edition of the said tournament.

28 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

Puerto Rico	77–94	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 15–27, 12–30, 31–18, 19–19
Pts: Piñeiro 14 Rebs: Conditt 11 Asts: Waters 9		Pts: Bogdanović, N. Jović 17 Rebs: Milutinov 15 Asts: S. Jović 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 2,944 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Carlos Peralta (ECU)

South Sudan vs. Serbia

This was the first competitive game between South Sudan and Serbia.

30 August 2023 16:00

Boxscore

South Sudan	83–115	Serbia
Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 19–26, 26–27, 18–32
Pts: Jok 21 Rebs: Omot 5 Asts: Jones 6		Pts: N. Jović 25 Rebs: Milutinov 10 Asts: S. Jović 13

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 5,848 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Rabah Noujaim (LBN)

China vs. Puerto Rico

This was the second game between China and Puerto Rico in the World Cup. The Puerto Ricans won in 2006, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.

30 August 2023 20:00

Boxscore

China	89–107	Puerto Rico
Scoring by quarter: 16–23, 21–29, 32–26, 20–29
Pts: Zhao R. 16 Rebs: Wang, Zhou 5 Asts: Zhao J. 5		Pts: Waters 22 Rebs: Romero 10 Asts: Waters 6

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 7,166 Referees: Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Luis Castillo (ESP), Carlos Peralta (ECU)

Statistical leaders

Player tournament average

Points # Player Pld Pts PPG 1 Carlik Jones 3 59 19.7 2 Bogdan Bogdanović 3 54 18.0 3 Nikola Jović 3 51 17.0 4 Tremont Waters 3 50 16.7 5 Zhao Rui 3 46 15.3

Rebounds # Player Pld Rebs RPG 1 Nikola Milutinov 3 31 10.3 2 George Conditt IV 3 29 9.7 3 Ismael Romero 3 24 8.0 4 Stephen Thompson Jr. 3 15 5.0 5 Marial Shayok 3 14 1.7

Assists # Player Pld Asts APG 1 Tremont Waters 3 26 8.7 2 Stefan Jović 3 25 8.3 3 Carlik Jones 3 23 7.7 4 Bogdan Bogdanović 3 17 5.7 5 Zhao Jiwei 3 15 5.0

Blocks # Player Pld Blks BPG 1 Wenyen Gabriel 3 5 1.7 Zhou Qi 3 5 1.7 3 George Conditt IV 3 4 1.3 4 Dejan Davidovac 3 3 1.0 Khaman Maluach 2 2 1.0

Steals # Player Pld Stls SPG 1 Tremont Waters 3 8 2.7 2 Bogdan Bogdanović 3 6 2.0 Stephen Thompson Jr. 3 6 2.0 Aleksa Avramović 2 4 2.0 5 Ognjen Dobrić 3 4 1.4

Minutes # Player Pld Mins MPG 1 Tremont Waters 3 105 35.1 2 George Conditt IV 3 90 30.2 3 Carlik Jones 3 89 29.7 4 Bogdan Bogdanović 3 83 27.9 5 Ismael Romero 3 81 27.2

Free throws # Player FTM FTA FT% 1 Bogdan Bogdanović 3 10/11 90.9 2 Aleksa Avramović 2 8/9 88.9 Majok Deng 3 8/9 88.9 4 Zhao Rui 3 10/12 83.3 5 Jordan Howard 3 8/10 80.0

Field goal shooting # Player FGM FGA FG% 1 Nikola Jović 18 24 75.0 2 Ismael Romero 18 25 72.0 3 Nikola Milutinov 17 25 68.0 4 Marial Shayok 14 27 51.9 5 Zhao Rui 15 29 51.7

Efficiency

#	Player	Pld	MPG	PPG	Eff	EffPG
1	Nikola Milutinov	3	25.2	13.3	73.0	24.3
2	Carlik Jones	3	29.7	19.7	62.0	20.7
	Nikola Jović	3	25.0	17.0	62.0	20.7
4	Bogdan Bogdanović	3	27.9	18.0	59.0	19.7
5	Ismael Romero	3	27.2	14.0	54.0	18.0
	Tremont Waters	3	35.1	16.7	54.0	18.0