ROUEN (France) – Victor Wembanyama appeared in Les Bleus jersey for the first time after departing to the NBA, and the Alien didn’t disappoint yet again. His duo with Rudy Gobert looked scary on both ends on the floor and did sent a clear message to their future opponents at the Olympics.
The hosts of tournament are yet to find their perfect combination of the perimeter players but their frontcourt will be a huge problem for anyone.
The Rouen crowd had a show put on for them as France finished this one with a 96-46 victory over Turkiye.
The story of the game
Vincent Collet has a hard task ahead of him of cutting a list of 16 potential candidates down to 12 players who will perform at the Paris Olympics. But one thing is surely no-brainer for the French coach.
In fact, the frontline of Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert has the potential to be one of the best in the history of international basketball. The connection between the two was on display from the very first seconds of the game, with Wemby feeding his more experienced partner inside the paint. You could tell the Spur wanted to make the Wolve shine.
The pair only played together for the opening part of the first quarter but that was enough for the hosts to jump on the double-digit lead and scare away the visitors, as Türkiye scored their first field goal only five minutes into the game.
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Victor just had a “Wemby game” – Nicolas Batum
With Gobert getting his rest, Wemby continued the show on his own.
Les Bleus finished the first half with a 22-point lead, giving Collet a chance to mix things up later on. Gershon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort were the ones shining in the second half, while the French head coach kept rotating his backcourt.
The second half was a formality in terms of the score but France and Wembanyama made sure the crowd kept getting what they came for.
The player of the game
Victor Wembanyama is back to the international international stage and he looks as an absolutely illegal weapon for France. Throwing alley-oops, finishing alley-oops, making threes and finishing turnaround jumpers. What can’t this 20-year-old do?
Wemby got his fair share of playing time and he did look scary especially on the defensive end.
The NBA rookie of the year would eventually finish this game with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks. More to come? Fortunately, yes.
The stats of the game
Türkiye is using this summer to better prepare for the 2025 FIBA Eurobasket qualifiers and they’re without Alperen Sengun. Yet head coach Ergin Ataman has some experienced players at his disposal. However, the French defense impressed a lot in this game, holding the opponents to just 46 points in the game and just 15 points in the second half.
The French team also combined for 33 team assists.
The takeaways from the game
Well, we probably could guess, but Wemby and Gobert duo does look magnificent, and Vincent Collet would be especially happy about his team’s defense in this first encounter of the summer.
The coach also tried a few options at the point guard position which is considered the weakest link in this otherwise exceptional roster. Nando De Colo, Theo Maledon and Matthew Strazel will have more games to prove their worth to this version of the French team.
Les Bleus will now face Germany twice in the next two preparation games, with the first one taking place on Saturday.
FIBA
