The Tall Blacks are in Jakarta, Indonesia as they prepare for their first game in the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 – taking on India at 4pm NZT today.
This is the first of three pool games that the Tall Blacks will play in Group D, joining India (ranked #82), Lebanon (ranked #54) and recent rivals Philippines (ranked #34).
New Zealand, with a FIBA World Ranking of #27, is the early favourite to come out of this Group – and will look to win all three of their pool games to gain automatic entry into the quarter-finals.
Tall Blacks Asia Cup History
The Tall Blacks are back for a second consecutive trip to the FIBA Asia Cup, after making their debut in 2017 alongside Australia. They finished an impressive fourth in that debut, winning against Kazakhstan and hosts Lebanon before losing to Korea by the smallest margin, 76-75. New Zealand still ended up at the top of Group C, however, and made it through to the Semi-Finals with a win over Jordan – bowing out of the Asia Cup in that game over eventual Tournament winners Australia.
Tall Blacks Squad
With an average age of 23 years and 64 total national team caps amongst them, this Tall Blacks team is undoubtedly younger and less experienced than recent squads – but it is definitely not lacking for talent.
Coach Pero Cameron has named four Tall Blacks debutantes in Isaac Davidson, Max Darling, Sam Mennenga and Kane Keil to this side; Davidson, Darling and Keil all play solid minutes in the Sal’s NBL and Mennenga is coming off a solid sophomore campaign for the Wildcats in NCAA Division 1.
A trio of other US college players in Flynn Cameron, Kruz-Perrott Hunt and Taine Murray will be expected to feature in the line-ups. Cameron impressed in limited minutes in last month’s World Cup Qualifier game in Auckland with 6 points off the bench, while Perrott-Hunt’s last appearance in the black singlet was in 2019 where he averaged 5ppg and 3 assists. Murray averaged a robust 7ppg over two games in the 2021 Asian Qualifiers, playing alongside Jordan Hunt in that series – the 6’9” centre with 5 points and 7 rebounds in his lone appearance – and Taylor Britt.
Both Britt and Taki Fahrensohn are shooting guards with more recent Tall Blacks experience, each playing solid minutes in the national team’s World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Manila in March this year – that squad going 3-0 against the likes of India and Philippines.
And anchoring the ship are Tall Black veterans Tohi Smith-Milner and Sam Timmins, who have a combined 51 caps between them and who both played in the national team’s last game – a 106-60 win in Auckland against Philippines. Both players were also key contributors on the 2017 Tall Black’s Asia Cup team; Smith-Milner averaging 10.5ppg and 4 rebounds over 6 games while Timmins averaged 6.7ppg and 8 rebounds.
India Asia Cup Squad
The Tall Blacks will face a youthful and inexperienced squad in India, a team that has been putting a lot of effort towards giving opportunities to their young guns in recent years.
Although India will make their 27th appearance in this tournament, they had a 2017 Asia Cup campaign to forget – going 0-3 against the likes Syria, Jordan and Iran to not make it out of pool play.
More recently, India have not enjoyed much in the way of success against New Zealand; losing twice – a 101-46 thrashing, followed by a more respectable 95-60 loss – to the Tall Blacks during the World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Manila back in March.
Despite this, India will feature some talented players in their squad, including Amritpal Singh (8.7 rebounds per game in the Asia Cup) and rising prospect Muin Bek Hafeez. Their most notable player is legendary guard Vishesh Bhrugivanshi, known as the “Bearded Baba”, who will appear in his sixth Asia Cup for India.
Two other players to watch will be point guards Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon, who averaged 7.5ppg against the Kiwis in the Asian Qualifiers, and Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan who had 7ppg over the two games.
The Tall Blacks take on India in their first game of the FIBA Asia Cup 2022, at 4pm NZT on Wednesday 13 June. Watch it live free-to-air on Maori Television; Channel 5 on Freeview or Channel 15 on Sky.
Find out more about the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 at www.fiba.basketball/asiacup/2022
Tall Blacks Asia Cup Schedules (All Times NZT)
Vs India, 4pm NZT Wed 13 July
Vs Lebanon, 1am NZT, Sat 16 July
Vs Philippines, 1am NZT, Mon 18 July
Tall Blacks Squad – FIBA Asia Cup 2022
Flynn Cameron, Riverside California (1 cap, see stats here)
Isaac Davidson, NZ Breakers / Franklin Bulls (0 caps)
Jordan Hunt, Hawkes Bay Hawks (1 caps)
Kane Keil, Franklin Bulls (0 caps)
Kruz Perrott-Hunt, University of South Dakota (2 caps)
Max Darling, Canterbury Rams (0 caps)
Sam Mennenga, Davidson College (0 caps)
Sam Timmins, NZ Breakers / Otago Nuggets (12 caps)
Taine Murray, University of Virginia (3 caps)
Taki Fahrensohn, Auckland Tuatara (3 caps)
Taylor Britt, Canterbury Rams (4 caps)
Tohi Smith-Milner, South East Melbourne Phoenix / Sandringham Sabres (39 caps)
India Squad – FIBA Asia Cup 2022
Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon
Muin Bek Hafeez
Vishesh Bhriguvanshi
Amritpal Singh
Amarendra Nayak
Prashant Singh Rawat
Pratyanshu Tomar
Pranav Prince
Aryan
Vivek Vinubhai Goti
Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan
Kushal Singh
