Team profile: Venezuela must rely on experience, tough defense

OKINAWA (Japan) - Venezuela will be looking to take another positive step in international hoops when they run onto the court at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Okinawa, Japan.

The Roster

The country that famously won the 2015 FIBA AmeriCup to clinch a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics followed up that achievement by qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, where they advanced to the Second Round and ultimately finished 14th.

Experience is not in short supply for Venezuela, who still have six players in the squad from the AmeriCup team of eight years ago. They are Nestor Colmenares, Windi Graterol, Heissler Guillent, Miguel Ruiz, Gregory Vargas and David Cubillan. Of those six players, only Cubillan was not in the 2019 World Cup team.

Michael Carrera, Jhornan Zamora, Pedro Chourio and Anthony Perez were all members from the 2019 World Cup team and are also in this summer's squad. 

Nestor Colmanares

Coach Fernando Duro, who led the 2019 team, has some youth in the squad. There are promising youngsters in Garly Sojo, Yohanner Sifontes and 19-year-olds Fabrizio Pugliatti and Enrique Medina. Jose Materan doesn't have as much experience but did average 12.3 points per game at last summer's FIBA AmeriCup. The 26-year-old featured in nine of Venezuela's American Qualifiers games. 

The Question

Will Venezuela do even better than 2019 and advance to the Quarter-Finals? The team has struggled to get wins during their preparations, so far falling to Angola, Argentina, Spain, France, Australia and South Sudan.

 

Similar to 2019, when Venezuela took on China and Cote d'Ivoire in the Group Phase and won against both teams to finish second behind Poland and advance to the Second Round, the South American country has a very good chance of progressing in Okinawa.

In their First Round group, Venezuela will be underdogs against Slovenia but should be favored against World Cup newcomers Cape Verde and Georgia.

But to finish in the top two of their Second Round pool, if they advance, would be extremely difficult since they cross over with the "group of death" that has Germany, Australia, Finland and Japan.

The Hope

Venezuela can rely on their physical defense, force turnovers and score a bunch of points in transition. The country's 10.7 steals per game ranked number one in the Americas Qualifiers.

They can get big performances from veterans that already have World Cup wins under their belt. In the previous edition, Guillent and Carrera led the scoring at 13.0 points per game and 10.2 points, respectively, with the former also tops on the team in assists at 6.2 per game. Ruiz led Venezuela in rebounding at 7.6 per game.

Heissler Guillent was Venezuela's top scorer in 2019

Venezuela need Carrera, Colmenares and Vargas to bring their usual toughness on defense, and the boards.

Duro's side will also have to value its possessions, as they did in 2019 when averaging just 11 turnovers per game.

The Fear

Venezuela, the No. 17 team in the FIBA World Ranking, could struggle against a fired-up Georgia (No. 32) that has won their last three games, beating Jordan, Montenegro and Iran. Duro's team will not have a player in the low post, or an effective plan, to compete with world No. 64 Cape Verde's giant center Edy Tavares, one of the most dominant pivots in the sport.

Garly Sojo

The offense, which has been struggling, may never get going, even with the Garly Sojo in the lineup, a player that showed good things against Australia and Spain. When it comes to pouring in the points, someone is going to have to step up.

 IN THE LAST 10 FIBA EVENTS

YEAR	EVENT	LOCATION	ACHIEVEMENT
2022	FIBA AmeriCup	Recife (BRA)	7th
2021	Olympics	Tokyo (JPN)	Did not qualify
2019	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Beijing (CHN)	14th
2017	FIBA AmeriCup	ARG-COL-URU	9th
2016	Olympics	Rio de Janeiro (BRA)	10th
2015	FIBA AmeriCup	Mexico City (MEX)	1st
2014	FIBA Basketball World Cup	Madrid (ESP)	Did not qualify
2013	FIBA AmeriCup	Caracas (VEN)	5th
2012	Olympics	London (GBR)	Did not qualify
2011	FIBA AmeriCup	Mar Del Plata (ARG)	5th

The Poll

 

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For a deeper look on Venezuela's journey to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, click here.

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