Cleveland Cavaliers draft pick Saliou Niang finished in double figures on Thursday to help lead Italy in a 75-66 loss to Greece to open the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket Championship.
Niang produced 11 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal on 5-of-7 shooting from the field in 20 minutes off the bench at the Spyros Kyprianou Arena in Limassol, Cyprus. He recorded nine points and one rebound in the second half.
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Captain Nicolò Melli led the Italians with 15 points, while Matteo Spagnolo added 10 points, and Danilo Gallinari added eight points. They trailed for the entirety of the contest, though they managed to cut a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to five points with under four minutes to play.
Giannis Antetokounmpo paced Greece with a team-high 31 points and seven rebounds, while Kostas Sloukas and Konstantinos Mitoglou each scored nine points. The group shot 52% from the field and outscored Italy 36-30 in the paint.
After falling to Greece, Italy returns to action in Group C on Saturday (8 a.m. EDT) against Georgia, which defeated Spain earlier on Thursday. Greece will face Cyprus on Saturday as it looks to begin the tournament with a 2-0 record.
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The preliminary round of the 42nd edition of EuroBasket will take place in Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Poland, with teams placed into four groups of six. The top four teams after five games will advance to the knockout round, which begins on Sept. 6.
This article originally appeared on Rookie Wire: EuroBasket: Saliou Niang, Italy fall to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece