Greece began its EuroBasket 2025 campaign with a 75–66 win over Italy in Limassol, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 31-point performance.
The Milwaukee Bucks forward added seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Greece overturned a two-point halftime deficit with an 11–3 run in the third quarter, building a lead that Italy could not recover from.
Italy cut the margin to five points late in the fourth, but Giannis sealed the result with a dunk in the final half-minute.
Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Mitoglou each contributed nine points for Greece.
“Italy is a great team with depth at both bigs and guards. We’re very happy with the winning margin and we’re very happy that we responded when they came back. We have to be happy today and keep building,” Mitoglou said post-match.
Greece shot 59 per cent inside the arc and 39 per cent from three, compared with Italy’s 36 per cent overall and 26 per cent from distance.
“I think we had a good game defensively. Offensively we had some good moments and some not-so-good moments. We need to have a little more patience in our offense and more easy points on fast breaks. Our team can run, our team can shoot, we need to find more ways to be successful in offensive transition,” said coach Vassilis Spanoulis.
The win improves Greece’s head-to-head record against Italy in FIBA competitions to 8–3.
Greece will next face hosts Cyprus on Saturday, who lost their first match 91-64 to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
