2020 Italy men's OQT basketball team

Main article: Italy men's national basketball team

Italy

2021 season
President	Gianni Petrucci
Head coach	Meo Sacchetti
Preliminary round	1st
0Playoffs	0Winners
PIR leader	Polonara 25.3
Scoring leader	Fontecchio 19.7
Rebounding leader	Polonara 9.3
Assists leader	Mannion 4
Biggest win	+20 59-79 vs Dominican Republic (3 July)
Home Away
←  EuroBasket 2022 qualification Olympics  →
All statistics correct as of July 4, 2021.

The 2020 Italy men's OQT basketball team represented Italy at the 2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia in June 2021. They qualified for the Qualification tournament by taking 10th place at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The team has been coached by Meo Sacchetti.

Overview

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 23 to 28 June 2020, but it was shifted to 29 June to 4 July due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy won the competition after a historic victory in the finals against the favourite Serbian team. This way, the Italian team qualified to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Timeline

• 23–28 June 2020: Original Olympic Qualifying Tournament schedule
• 13 June 2021: Coach Romeo Sacchetti calls 16 players for the tournament. ^[1]
• 29 June–4 July 2021: Rescheduled Olympic Qualifying Tournament ^[2]
• 28 June 2021: Coach Romeo Sacchetti calls the 12 players for the tournament. ^[3]
• 30 June 2021: Italy wins by forfeit against Senegal due to COVID detected in the African team. Italy is, therefore, automatically qualified to the next stage.
• 1 July 2021: Italy wins over Puerto Rico 90–83 and ends the round at the first place.
• 3 July 2021: Italy wins over Dominican Republic 79–59 and goes to the Final against Serbia.
• 4 July 2021: Italy wins over Serbia 102–95 and qualifies to the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Kit

Supplier: Spalding / Sponsor: Barilla

Home

Away

Roster

The following 12 players were called by coach Romeo Sacchetti for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. ^[3]

Italy national basketball team – 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 0 Marco Spissu 24 – (1995-02-05)5 February 1995 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Dinamo Sassari PG 1 Nico Mannion 19 – (2001-09-04)4 September 2001 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Golden State Warriors SG 7 Stefano Tonut 27 – (1993-11-07)7 November 1993 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Reyer Venezia C 9 Nicolò Melli  (C) 30 – (1991-01-26)26 January 1991 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Dallas Mavericks SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 25 – (1995-12-09)9 December 1995 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Alba Berlin C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 26 – (1994-10-07)7 October 1994 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Virtus Bologna PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 29 – (1991-09-27)27 September 1991 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Virtus Bologna SF 23 Awudu Abass 28 – (1993-01-27)27 January 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Virtus Bologna SF 24 Riccardo Moraschini 30 – (1991-01-08)8 January 1991 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Olimpia Milano SG 31 Michele Vitali 29 – (1991-10-31)31 October 1991 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Brose Bamberg PF 33 Achille Polonara 29 – (1991-11-23)23 November 1991 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Saski Baskonia PG 54 Alessandro Pajola 21 – (1999-11-09)9 November 1999 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Virtus Bologna	Head coach Romeo Sacchetti Assistant coach(es) Emanuele Molin Piero Bucchi Paolo Galbiati Riccardo Fois Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 31 June 2021

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Nicolò Melli	Amedeo Tessitori
PF	Achille Polonara	Giampaolo Ricci
SF	Simone Fontecchio	Riccardo Moraschini	Awudu Abass
SG	Stefano Tonut	Michele Vitali
PG	Nico Mannion	Alessandro Pajola	Marco Spissu

Candidate players

The following were candidates to make the team:

Earlier candidates

Player	Team	Added	Removed	Reason
Leonardo Totè	Bilbao Basket	24 May 2021 [4]	8 June 2021	Injured [5]
Abramo Canka	BC Nevėžis		13 June 2021	Technical choice [6]
Maximilian Ladurner	Aquila Trento
Andrea Pecchia	Pallacanestro Cantù
Gabriele Procida	Pallacanestro Cantù
Tomas Woldetensae	Virginia Cavaliers
Davide Alviti	Pallacanestro Trieste		16 June 2021	Technical choice [7]
Giordano Bortolani	Pallacanestro Brescia		20 June 2021	Technical choice [8]
Guglielmo Caruso	Santa Clara Broncos
Simone Zanotti	VL Pesaro
Raphael Gaspardo	New Basket Brindisi	13 June 2021 [6]
Leonardo Candi	Reggio Emilia	24 May 2021 [4]	24 June 2021	14-men roster cut [9]
Matteo Spagnolo	Madrid Baloncesto
Nicola Akele	Universo Treviso
Michele Ruzzier	Pallacanestro Varese		28 June 2021	12-men roster cut [3]
Mouhamet Diouf	Reggio Emilia

Staff

After the EuroBasket 2022 qualification tournament the staff team was updated: Piero Bucchi, Paolo Galbiati and Riccardo Fois were hired as assistant coaches and replaced Massimo Maffezzoli and Paolo Conti. Only Emanuele Molin was confirmed amongst the assistant coaches. ^[10]

Position	Staff member	Age	Team
Head coach	Meo Sacchetti	71	Italian Basketball Federation
Assistant coaches	Emanuele Molin	65	Aquila Trento
	Piero Bucchi	67	Pallacanestro Cantù
	Paolo Galbiati	41	Vanoli Cremona
	Riccardo Fois	38	Phoenix Suns
Physical trainer	Matteo Panichi	52	Italian Basketball Federation
Physician	Sandro Senzameno	72	Italian Basketball Federation
Orthopaedic	Raffaele Cortina	64	Italian Basketball Federation
Osteopath	Roberto Oggioni	50	Italian Basketball Federation
	Francesco Ciallella	44	Italian Basketball Federation
Team manager	Massimo Valle	58	Italian Basketball Federation
Press officer	Francesco D'Aniello	44	Italian Basketball Federation
Manager	Roberto Brunamonti	65	Italian Basketball Federation
Video maker	Marco Cremonini	36	Italian Basketball Federation
Equipment manager	Curzio Garofoli	54	Italian Basketball Federation
	Andrea Annessa	51	Italian Basketball Federation

Source:

Exhibition games

VTG Supercup

Pos	Team	Pld	Pts
1	Germany	3	3
2	Italy	3	2
3	Czech Republic	3	1
4	Tunisia	3	0

Source: FIP

Italy   v   Tunisia

18 June 2021 1	Italy	82–56	Tunisia	Hamburg
17:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter:21-9, 24-12, 13-11, 24-24
Eurosport	Pts: Polonara 15 Rebs: Polonara 7 Asts: Candi, Ruzzier 4	Boxscore	Pts: Marnaoui 18 Rebs: Addami 10 Asts: Haddad, Marnaoui, El Mabrouk 4	Arena: Edel-optics.de Arena Referees: Carsten Straube (DEU), Steve Bittner (DEU), Boris Krejic (SVN)

Italy   v   Czech Republic

19 June 2021 2	Italy	83–71	Czech Republic	Hamburg
17:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 22-22, 27-13, 20-11, 25-14
Eurosport	Pts: Tonut, Polonara 15 Rebs: Polonara 7 Asts: Tonut 4	Boxscore	Pts: Kovář 18 Rebs: Balvín 5 Asts: Sehnal 9	Arena: Edel-optics.de Arena Referees: Steve Bittner (DEU), Carsten Straube (DEU), Tomas Jasevičius (LTU)

Germany   v   Italy

20 June 2021 3	Germany	91–79	Italy	Hamburg
20:30 (CET)	Scoring by quarter:22-20, 20-28, 29-12, 20-21
Eurosport	Pts: Saibou 18 Rebs: Voigtmann 9 Asts: Voigtmann 7	Boxscore	Pts: Melli 21 Rebs: Polonara 9 Asts: Ruzzier 6	Arena: Edel-optics.de Arena Referees: Boris Krejic (SVN), Manuel Attard (Ita), Carsten Straube (DEU)

Tournament

Main article: 2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments – Belgrade

See also: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification and 2020 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

Preliminary round

Main article: Group B

Senegal v Italy

The Senegal roster did not participate in the Qualifying Tournament. On June 28, they informed FIBA about COVID-19 related disruptions to their preparations in Germany. Afterwards, their scheduled games did not take place and Senegal lost by forfeit 0–20. ^[11]

Senegal   v   Italy

1	Senegal	0–20	Italy
		Boxscore

Italy v Puerto Rico

Italy   v   Puerto Rico

1 July 2021 2	Italy	90–83	Puerto Rico	Belgrade
16:30 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 18–24, 19–20, 27–14, 26–25
Rai Sport, Sky	Pts: Mannion, Fontecchio, Polonara 21 Rebs: Polonara 11 Asts: Mannion 6 PIR: Polonara 30	Boxscore	Pts: Clavell 24 Rebs: Browne 9 Asts: Browne 16 PIR: Browne 31	Arena: Aleksandar Nikolić Hall Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Omar Bermúdez (MEX), Yener Yılmaz (TUR)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 0 Marco Spissu 3 2 3 SG 7 Stefano Tonut 9 1 0 SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 21 6 2 PF 33 Achille Polonara 21 11 2 C 9 Nicolò Melli 0 3 3 Reserves: PG 1 Nico Mannion 21 3 6 C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 4 2 0 PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 6 3 1 SF 23 Awudu Abass 2 2 0 SF 24 Riccardo Moraschini DNP SG 31 Michele Vitali 3 1 0 PG 54 Alessandro Pajola 0 1 0 Head coach: Romeo Sacchetti

Italy Puerto Rico 0 ITA Statistics PUR 15/26 (57.7%) 2-pt field goals 21/45 (46.7%) 14/37 (37.8%) 3-pt field goals 11/27 (40.7%) 18/25 (72%) Free throws 8/18 (44.4%) 9 Offensive rebounds 14 29 Defensive rebounds 27 38 Total rebounds 41 17 Assists 19 13 Turnovers 17 1 Steals 7 4 Blocks 2 19 Fouls 26

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 9 Gary Browne 16 9 16 SG 24 Gian Clavell 24 4 0 SF 0 Isaiah Piñeiro 8 4 0 PF 15 Timajh Parker-Rivera 0 4 0 C 1 George Conditt 9 4 0 Reserves: PG 10 Iván Gandía 3 1 3 C 12 Jorge Díaz 2 0 0 SG 22 Emmanuel Andujar 11 4 0 SG 23 Isaac Sosa 3 0 0 PF 32 Chris Ortiz 7 6 0 PF 34 Arnaldo Toro DNP SF 41 Gilberto Clavell 0 0 0 Head coach: Eddie Casiano

Final round

Main article: Final round bracket

Italy v Dominican Republic

Italy   v   Dominican Republic

3 July 2021 Semifinal	Italy	79–59	Dominican Republic	Belgrade
13:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter:22-14, 20-16, 24-8, 13-21
Rai Sport, Sky	Pts: Fontecchio 17 Rebs: Melli, Fontecchio, Polonara 5 Asts:four players 3 PIR: Fontecchio 20	Boxscore	Pts: Francis 12 Rebs: Santos 7 Asts: Mendoza, Solano 4 PIR: Francis 13	Arena: Aleksandar Nikolić Hall Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Martins Kozlovskis (LVA), Georgios Poursanidis (GRC)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 0 Marco Spissu 3 4 2 SG 7 Stefano Tonut 14 1 3 SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 17 5 3 PF 33 Achille Polonara 9 5 0 C 9 Nicolò Melli 5 5 3 Reserves: PG 1 Nico Mannion 8 2 2 C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 2 3 2 PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 2 2 0 SF 23 Awudu Abass 3 0 0 SF 24 Riccardo Moraschini 2 3 3 SG 31 Michele Vitali 8 3 2 PG 54 Alessandro Pajola 6 2 1 Head coach: Romeo Sacchetti

Italy Dominican Republic 0 ITA Statistics PUR 13/33 (39.4%) 2-pt field goals 14/34 (41.2%) 13/25 (52.0%) 3-pt field goals 5/30 (16.7%) 14/19 (73.7%) Free throws 16/16 (100%) 7 Offensive rebounds 12 31 Defensive rebounds 26 38 Total rebounds 38 21 Assists 14 15 Turnovers 14 6 Steals 10 5 Blocks 0 17 Fouls 23

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 4 Gelvis Solano 6 0 4 SG 5 Víctor Liz 4 1 1 SF 7 Sadiel Rojas 2 6 1 PF 13 Angel Nunez 0 5 0 C 30 Jhonatan Araujo 4 5 0 Reserves: SG 1 Brandone Francis 12 3 1 SG 2 Rigoberto Mendoza 4 3 4 SG 3 Adonys Henriquez 10 0 0 PG 10 Andrés Feliz 4 2 1 PF 15 Brayan Martinez 3 1 0 PG 33 Mike Torres 6 0 2 C 40 Luis Santos 4 7 0 Head coach: Melvyn Lopez

Serbia v Italy

Serbia   v   Italy

4 July 2021 Final	Serbia	95–102	Italy	Belgrade
20:30 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 22-28, 23-29, 18-23, 32-22
Rai Sport, Sky	Pts: Anđušić 27 Rebs: Kalinić 6 Asts: Teodosić, Kalinić 5 PIR: Petrušev 29	Boxscore	Pts: Mannion 24 Rebs: Polonara 12 Asts: Pajola 6 PIR: Polonara 32	Arena: Aleksandar Nikolić Hall Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Yohan Rosso (FRA), Martins Kozlovskis (LVA)

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 30 Aleksa Avramović 2 5 3 SG 31 Ognjen Dobrić 17 3 4 SF 33 Danilo Anđušić 27 2 3 PF 8 Nemanja Bjelica 5 4 0 C 51 Boban Marjanović 7 3 0 Reserves: C 3 Filip Petrušev 22 5 1 PG 4 Miloš Teodosić 5 3 5 SF 10 Nikola Kalinić 2 6 5 SG 12 Dragan Milosavljević DNP PG 22 Vasilije Micić 8 0 2 PG 24 Stefan Jović DNP PF 27 Dejan Davidovac DNP Head coach: Igor Kokoškov

Serbia Italy 0 SRB Statistics ITA 18/27 (66.7%) 2-pt field goals 20/42 (47.6%) 11/32 (34.4%) 3-pt field goals 14/34 (41.2%) 26/32 (81.2%) Free throws 20/23 (87.0%) 9 Offensive rebounds 15 27 Defensive rebounds 24 36 Total rebounds 38 23 Assists 17 11 Turnovers 8 5 Steals 7 5 Blocks 2 24 Fouls 24

Starters: Pts Reb Ast PG 1 Nico Mannion 24 0 4 SG 7 Stefano Tonut 15 4 4 SF 13 Simone Fontecchio 21 8 0 PF 33 Achille Polonara 22 12 2 C 9 Nicolò Melli 5 4 0 Reserves: PG 0 Marco Spissu DNP C 16 Amedeo Tessitori 2 2 1 PF 17 Giampaolo Ricci 3 0 0 SF 23 Awudu Abass DNP SF 24 Riccardo Moraschini 0 0 0 SG 31 Michele Vitali 0 0 0 PG 54 Alessandro Pajola 10 4 6 Head coach: Romeo Sacchetti

Statistics

Individual statistics

No.	Player	GC	GP	GS	MPG	2FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	EF	PPG
0	Marco Spissu	3	2	2	17.5	50.0% (0.5/1.0)	16.7% (0.5/3.0)	33.3% (0.5/1.5)	3.0	2.5	0.0	0.5	3.5	3.0
1	Nico Mannion	3	3	1	21.7	50.0% (3.3/6.7)	45.5% (1.7/3.7)	78.3% (6.0/7.7)	1.7	4.0	0.0	0.0	14.7	17.7
7	Stefano Tonut	3	3	3	26.3	43.8% (2.3/5.3)	46.2% (2.0/4.3)	75.0% (2.0/2.7)	2.0	2.3	0.3	0.0	10.0	12.7
9	Nicolò Melli	3	3	3	21.3	18.2% (0.7/3.7)	20.0% (0.7/3.3)	0.0% (0.0/0.7)	4.0	2.0	1.3	0.7	3.7	3.3
13	Simone Fontecchio	3	3	3	29.7	57.7% (5.0/8.7)	53.8% (2.3/4.3)	100.0% (2.7/2.7)	6.3	1.7	0.0	1.0	22.0	19.7
16	Amedeo Tessitori	3	3	0	8.7	40.0% (0.7/1.7)	0.0% (0.0/0.3)	100.0% (1.3/1.3)	2.3	1.0	0.3	0.0	4.3	2.7
17	Giampaolo Ricci	3	3	0	14.0	25.0% (0.3/1.3)	27.3% (1.0/3.7)	-	1.7	0.3	1.0	0.3	2.7	3.7
23	Awudu Abass	3	2	0	7.5	50.0% (0.5/1.0)	0.0% (0.0/1.0)	75.0% (1.5/2.0)	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	2.5
24	Riccardo Moraschini	3	2	0	11.0	0.0% (0.0/0.5)	-	100.0% (1.0/1.0)	1.5	1.5	0.0	0.0	3.0	1.0
31	Michele Vitali	3	3	0	13.3	33.3% (0.3/1.0)	33.3% (0.7/2.0)	75.0% (1.0/1.3)	1.3	0.7	0.3	0.3	2.7	3.7
33	Achille Polonara	3	3	3	29.0	87.5% (2.3/2.7)	61.1% (3.7/6.0)	71.4% (1.7/2.3)	9.3	1.3	1.0	0.7	25.3	17.3
54	Alessandro Pajola	3	3	0	11.7	33.3% (0.3/1.0)	80.0% (1.3/1.7)	100.0% (0.7/0.7)	2.3	2.3	0.3	0.3	9.0	5.3
Total		3				47.5%	42.7%	77.6%	38.3	18.3	4.7	3.7	99.7	90.3

Individual game highs

Total Player Opponent Points 24 Nico Mannion vs   Serbia Total Rebounds 9 Achille Polonara vs   Serbia Assists 6 Nico Mannion vs   Puerto Rico Alessandro Pajola vs   Serbia Steals 3 Nicolò Melli vs   Dominican Republic Efficiency 32 Achille Polonara vs   Serbia 2-point field goal percentage 5 71.4% (5/7) Simone Fontecchio vs   Puerto Rico 3-point field goal percentage 100% (3/3) Simone Fontecchio vs   Puerto Rico Free throw percentage 100% (9/9) Nico Mannion vs   Serbia Minutes 35:28 Achille Polonara vs   Puerto Rico Notes ^5 at least 5 attempts

Total Player Opponent 2-point field goals made 7 Simone Fontecchio vs   Serbia 2-point field goals attempted 12 Nico Mannion vs   Serbia Simone Fontecchio 3-point field goals made 6 Achille Polonara vs   Serbia 3-point field goals attempted 9 Achille Polonara vs   Puerto Rico Free throws made 9 Nico Mannion vs   Serbia Free throws attempted 9 Nico Mannion vs   Serbia Offensive Rebounds 3 Simone Fontecchio vs   Serbia Achille Polonara Defensive Rebounds 9 Achille Polonara vs   Puerto Rico vs   Serbia

Team game highs

Statistic Total Opponent Points 102 vs   Serbia Total Rebounds 39 vs   Serbia Assists 21 vs   Dominican Republic Blocks 5 vs   Dominican Republic Steals 7 vs   Serbia Efficiency 110 vs   Serbia 2-point field goal percentage 57.7% vs   Puerto Rico 3-point field goal percentage 52.0% vs   Dominican Republic Free throw percentage 87.0% vs   Serbia Turnovers 8 vs   Serbia

Statistic Total Opponent 2-point field goals made 20 vs   Serbia 2-point field goals attempted 42 vs   Serbia 3-point field goals made 14 vs   Serbia 3-point field goals attempted 37 vs   Dominican Republic Free throws made 20 vs   Serbia Free throws attempted 25 vs   Dominican Republic Offensive Rebounds 15 vs   Serbia Defensive Rebounds 31 vs   Dominican Republic

References

1. "FIBA OQT. I 16 convocati del CT per il raduno di Milano e il torneo di Amburgo. Sacchetti: "Cominciamo ad aggregare atleti di esperienza"" (in Italian). fip.it. 13 June 2021.
2. "FIBA confirms dates for FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments". fiba.basketball. 14 May 2020.
3. "FIBA OQT. Meo ha scelto i 12 Azzurri che a Belgrado inseguiranno il sogno Olimpico. Lasciano il raduno Momo Diouf e Michele Ruzzier". fip.it. 28 June 2021.
4. "FIBA OQT. I 16 convocati del CT per il training camp in Val Rendena (5/13 giugno). Sacchetti: "Estate particolare, ma il nostro obiettivo è grande"" (in Italian). fip.it. 24 May 2021.
5. "Leonardo Totè autorizzato a lasciare il training camp" (in Italian). fip.it. 8 June 2021.
6. "FIBA OQT. I 16 convocati del CT per il raduno di Milano e il torneo di Amburgo. Sacchetti: "Cominciamo ad aggregare atleti di esperienza"" (in Italian). fip.it. 13 June 2021.
7. "Azzurri da domani ad Amburgo per la VTG Supercup (diretta Eurosport 2 e Player). Alviti autorizzato a lasciare il raduno" (in Italian). fip.it. 16 June 2021.
8. "FIBA OQT. I 17 convocati del CT per il raduno di Milano (21-23/06) e l'amichevole contro il Venezuela (24/06)" (in Italian). fip.it. 20 June 2021.
9. "FIBA OQT. Scrimmage in famiglia per gli Azzurri. Venerdì 25 giugno il volo per Belgrado con 14 Azzurri. Tutto il torneo in diretta su SkySport. Gli Azzurri in diretta anche su RaiSport" (in Italian). fip.it. 24 June 2021.
10. "Piero Bucchi, Paolo Galbiati e Riccardo Fois nello staff tecnico Azzurro. Affiancheranno il CT Meo Sacchetti e Lele Molin. La FIP ringrazia e saluta Massimo Maffezzoli e Paolo Conti" (in Italian). fip.it. 5 March 2021.
11. "Rosters confirmed ahead of tip-off at FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 28 June 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Italy men's OQT basketball team profile on FIBA