The duel taking place at the Riga Xiaomi Arena is being watched by packed stands – about 11 thousand spectators, the absolute majority of whom are chanting the slogan"Our land – Latvia".

The winners of this pair will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face either Greece or Israel, among the eight strongest teams on the continent. The losers will go home, finishing no higher than 9th place.

LIVE

STATISTICS

The Latvians lost to the Turks and Serbs in Group A in the first round and finished third, while the Lithuanians stumbled once in Group B and only missed out on the Germans. However, both teams have been plagued by injuries: Andrejs Gražulis and Rokas Jokubaičius have already finished their careers in the championships, respectively.

Not only do Latvians rank higher in the FIBA rankings (9th vs. 10th place), but they also simply obscenely swept our team in their last official meeting – two years ago at the World Championships in the Philippines (98:63).

True, Rimas Kurtinaitis's team managed to defeat the Latvians in overtime (109:105) in the same Riga in preparation for this year's tournament.

The Latvian ball masters are having fun with three-pointers in the championship, hitting 12.4 long-range shots per match, only slightly behind the Germans (the Lithuanians, with an average of 5.4 three-pointers, are the last, 24th). However, the Lithuanian oaks dominate the battle for the baskets - with an average of 41.8 rebounds, they lead all participants (the Latvians, with 34.2 rebounds, are only 19-20th).

If the Lithuanian national team still fails to overcome the round of 16 barrier, it would have been cursed for a whole decade and not been surpassed for the third time in a row - in 2017 they remained in 9th place, and in 2022 only in 15th place.

For their part, the Latvian representatives were 5th in 2017 (they lost to eventual champion Slovenia 97:103 in the quarterfinals only after a dramatic fight), and missed the 2022 tournament because they were stuck in the qualifiers.

Previous official meetings between the Lithuanian and Latvian national teams (year, venue, tournament, stage):

1939 Kaunas (European Championship group): Lithuania – Latvia 37:36

2001 Ankara (Europa League Round of 16): Lithuania – Latvia 76:94

2003 Norrköping (European Championship Group): Lithuania – Latvia 92:91 (after overtime)

2013 Jesenice (EC group): Lithuania – Latvia 67:59

2015 Riga (EC group): Lithuania – Latvia 68:49

2023 Manila (WC for 5th-6th places): Lithuania – Latvia 63:98