CHENNAI (India) - The India basketball fans have been patient.
They packed the stands at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai over the two-game stretch in this November window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers. It was an outstanding home stand in terms of attendance that saw over 13,000 fans combined across the pair of games.
"Not everybody gets to feel this way, playing in their home court... The crowd was crazy today - not only today, but last game it was crazy, too."
The India basketball faithful cheered their hearts out and roared from the stands.
But they had to wait until they could fully celebrate.
And after swallowing a tough loss to Qatar on Friday, India bounced back in front of a crowd of 6,128 fans to beat Kazakhstan.
"Then when you win one game, you're going for two, and then you start talking about qualifying.
It was their first win against Kazakhstan in a major FIBA competition in 27 years. It was their first win in a FIBA competition in over 3 years - snapping a 16-game losing streak.
"It's been a long time coming," was the first comment delivered by coach Scott Flemming at the post-game press conference. "Great to get a win."
Flemming knows well how long it's been. He was part of the national team program as a head coach back in the early 2010s before coming back in the same position heading into this win. So he knew how much this win meant for the country.
"We've always gone one game at a time," he has said after the Qatar loss.
"I'm sitting in a position where we haven’t won many games in 10 years so our goal right now is to win one game and that was my goal back in 2012: win one game.
"Then when you win one game, you're going for two, and then you start talking about qualifying. Right now [qualifying] is not really the main goal. The main goal for India is to get that next game."
The main goal was achieved as they ran through Kazkahstan, 88-69.
The final score between the two games in this November window might have looked different - going from a 16-point loss to a 19-point win while holding both opponents to 69 points - but the way they played both games were pretty much the same.
Flemming had said that India's strength was their three-point shooting and that if they had just knocked down their shots at the usual rate, it might have been a different story against Qatar. He didn't wait long to prove that.
Against Qatar, India took 40 threes and converted only 25 percent of those attempts (10 made three-pointers). Against Kazakhstan, they took 35 three-pointers and converted 42.9 percent for 15 made three-pointers.
The numbers check out: if only India were able to make 40 percent of their threes against Qatar (17 three-pointers) they would have won, 71-69.
In any case, India were able to come away with their historic win and the fans and players couldn't be any happier. Especially for those who were able to enjoy a rare opportunity to play on their homecourt and to win on it like captain Muin Bek Hafeez.
"It's actually a great feeling. Not everybody gets to feel this way, playing in their home court," he said. "This is Tamil Nadu, like, I come from here and I play in this court. I have played more than a lot of Nationals here. But for an international game, this is the first time in my life, so I'm really proud of that. The crowd was crazy today - not only today, but last game it was crazy, too. Chennai, or Tamil Nadu, people here have basketball knowledge here. They enjoy good basketball. So it's good for them."
After seeing the results of this game, the fans will be hoping to see a lot more as India now progress to going for win number two and eventually gunning for qualification. But while this win is certainly a big morale booster, Flemming knows there's a lot of ground to be covered.
"If we hadn’t [won], we'd still be plowing along and trying to improve," he said, keeping himself and the team grounded. "That doesn’t change. We've still got to get better as a young team. A lot of these guys were still in high school a few years ago.
"I know we want a quick turnaround and this helps. It gives some confidence and encouragement to the players and to beat a team that's ranked higher than we are, I don’t think that’s been done for 10-11 years. That's really great, and I'm glad for them."
"I think we've got a good group that gets along well and that was from the beginning. Now, we just needed something to encourage us because I think we’ve worked hard.
"Now, it's great to get rewarded for this, isn't it?" Flemming asked as he turned to Hafeez at the press conference.
The team captain's grin was a resounding yes as if not only to answer for himself, but the players, and the fans in rejoice of this much awaited victory.
FIBA