The Korean men’s basketball team, which started anew under coach Ahn Jun-ho, defeated Thailand by 34 points at home and comfortably reported its first win. The national team led by Coach Ahn defeated Thailand 96-62 in the second round of Group A of the 2025 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup qualifiers held at the Wonju Sports Complex in Gangwon-do on the 25th.Korea (1 win, 1 loss), which lost 71-85 in the away game against Australia on the 22nd, recorded its first win in the preliminary round with this game .The Korean men’s basketball team has never lost to Thailand since the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games .In this preliminary round, which will determine the team that will advance to the FIBA Asia Cup finals to be held in Saudi Arabia in August 2025, 24 countries will be divided into 6 groups and compete in a home-and-away format until February next year. The top two countries in each group will advance directly to the finals, and four of the six countries ranked third in each group will also advance to the finals. Korea (51st in FIBA rankings) is competing in Group A along with Australia (4th), Indonesia (74th), and Thailand (91st).Coach Ahn, who was appointed as the new head coach of the Korean men’s national basketball team last month and returned to the field as an on-field leader after 12 years, experienced the joy of his first win.
Coach Ahn increased the intensity of pressure from the beginning of the game by sending out Byun Jun-hyung (Sangmu), Oh Jae-hyeon (SK), Yang Hong-seok (LG), Kang Sang-jae (DB), and La Gun-ah (KCC) as starters .As Oh Jae-hyeon and Byun Jun-hyung, who possess all of the physique, strength, and speed among Korean guards, put pressure on them without stopping, Thailand struggled, making 4 errors in just 3 minutes of the game. Thailand, which was outrebounded by 7 to 13 in rebounds, was outmatched in both height and speed and was down 15 to 28 from the first quarter .In the second quarter, Korea’s pressure became even stronger. With forwards Sang-jae Kang and Kyo-chang Song (KCC) adding to the pressure from the front, Korea increased the pace of attack and scored 16 points through fast breaks in the first half alone .In particular, the time taken to drive the ball to the opposing side right after the rebound was shortened as much as possible, creating the effect that the opponent was facing a fast break every time they attacked.
Guards such as Oh Jae-hyun, Byun Jun-hyung, and Lee Woo-seok (Hyundai Mobis) also showed concentration in defense, lowering the opponent’s main gun Frederick Risch’s field goal success rate to 25%.Korea took the lead early with a gap of more than 20 points in the first half alone, and at the end of the third quarter, Ha Yoon-ki (KT) scored a refreshing dunk after Song Kyo-chang’s steal to run away with a 30-point lead, 72-42 .Naturalized player La Gun-ah, whose ‘four-party contract’ that includes not only the professional basketball team Busan KCC but also the national team and KBL expires in May, showed off her skills by playing only about 17 minutes and scoring 15 points .If the parties do not agree on an extension contract, this could be Laguna’s last game wearing the national team uniform .Ha Yoon-gi also showed off his score from behind the goal with 13 points and 14 rebounds. The remaining forwards, including Kim Jong-gyu (14 points), 슬롯게이밍 Yang Hong-seok (13 points), and Kang Sang-jae (10 points), also played their part.