Group B was one of eight groups of the preliminary round of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. It took place from 26 to 30 August 2023, and consisted of China, Puerto Rico, Serbia, and South Sudan. [1] [2] Each team played each other once, for a total of three games per team, with all games played at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Philippines. The top two teams advanced to the second round and the bottom two teams qualified for the classification rounds. [3]
| Team | Qualification | Appearance | Best performance | WR [4] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As | Date | Last | Total | Streak | |||
 South Sudan | African Group F top two | 24 February 2023 | — | 1 | 1 | Debut | 63 |
 Serbia | European Group I top three | 27 February 2023 | 2019 | 7 | 7 | Champions (1998, 2002) | 6 |
 China | Asian Group F top three | 14 November 2022 | 10 | 2 | 8th place (1994) | 27 | |
 Puerto Rico | Americas Group F top three | 26 February 2023 | 15 | 10 | 4th place (1990) | 21 | |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serbia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 314 | 223 | +91 | 6 | Second round |
| 2 | Puerto Rico | 3 | 2 | 1 | 285 | 279 | +6 | 5 | |
| 3 | South Sudan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 268 | 285 | −17 | 4 | 17th–32nd classification |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 3 | 221 | 301 | −80 | 3 |
All times are local (UTC+8). [5]
This was the first competitive game between South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
26 August 2023 16:00 |
| South Sudan | 96–101 (OT) | Puerto Rico |
| Scoring by quarter:29–24, 23–18, 15–18, 14–21, Overtime: 15–20 | ||
| Pts: Jones 38 Rebs: Gabriel, Shayok 7 Asts: Jones 11 | Pts: Thompson Jr. 21 Rebs: Thompson Jr. 13 Asts: Waters 11 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 3,166 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Luis Castillo (ESP), Carlos Peralta (ECU) |
This was the first game between Serbia and China in the World Cup. The Serbians won two of the three Olympic Games matches: 1996 as Yugoslavia and 2016 as Serbia. The Chinese won in the 2004 Olympics.
26 August 2023 20:00 |
| Serbia | 105–63 | China |
| Scoring by quarter:25–14, 30–20, 22–13, 28–16 | ||
| Pts: Bogdanović, Marinković 14 Rebs: Milutinov, Ristić 6 Asts: Gudurić, S. Jović 6 | Pts: Zhao R. 17 Rebs: Cui, Zhou 5 Asts: Zhao J. 6 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 7,292 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Mārtiņš Kozlovskis (LAT), Rabah Noujaim (LBN) |
This was the first competitive game between China and South Sudan which ended as a victory for the latter. This is South Sudan's first ever World Cup win. [6]
28 August 2023 16:00 |
| China | 69–89 | South Sudan |
| Scoring by quarter: 14–22, 26–22, 13–19, 16–26 | ||
| Pts: Li 22 Rebs: Li 5 Asts: Zhao J. 4 | Pts: Jones 21 Rebs: Maluach 6 Asts: Jones 6 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 4,416 Referees: Guilherme Locatelli (BRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Martin Vulić (CRO) |
This was the second game between Puerto Rico and Serbia in the World Cup. The Serbians won their last meeting in 2019 and also won in the final of the 2016 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and in the semi-finals of the 2020 edition of the said tournament.
28 August 2023 20:00 |
| Puerto Rico | 77–94 | Serbia |
| Scoring by quarter: 15–27, 12–30, 31–18, 19–19 | ||
| Pts: Piñeiro 14 Rebs: Conditt 11 Asts: Waters 9 | Pts: Bogdanović, N. Jović 17 Rebs: Milutinov 15 Asts: S. Jović 6 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 2,944 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Leandro Zalazar (ARG), Carlos Peralta (ECU) |
This was the first competitive game between South Sudan and Serbia.
30 August 2023 16:00 |
| South Sudan | 83–115 | Serbia |
| Scoring by quarter: 20–30, 19–26, 26–27, 18–32 | ||
| Pts: Jok 21 Rebs: Omot 5 Asts: Jones 6 | Pts: N. Jović 25 Rebs: Milutinov 10 Asts: S. Jović 13 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 5,848 Referees: Yohan Rosso (FRA), Kerem Baki (TUR), Rabah Noujaim (LBN) |
This was the second game between China and Puerto Rico in the World Cup. The Puerto Ricans won in 2006, which was the last competitive game between the two teams.
30 August 2023 20:00 |
| China | 89–107 | Puerto Rico |
| Scoring by quarter: 16–23, 21–29, 32–26, 20–29 | ||
| Pts: Zhao R. 16 Rebs: Wang, Zhou 5 Asts: Zhao J. 5 | Pts: Waters 22 Rebs: Romero 10 Asts: Waters 6 | |
Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Attendance: 7,166 Referees: Gatis Saliņš (LAT), Luis Castillo (ESP), Carlos Peralta (ECU) |
Points
| Rebounds
| Assists
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Blocks
| Steals
| Minutes
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Free throws
| Field goal shooting
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Efficiency
| # | Player | Pld | MPG | PPG | Eff | EffPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikola Milutinov | 3 | 25.2 | 13.3 | 73.0 | 24.3 |
| 2 | Carlik Jones | 3 | 29.7 | 19.7 | 62.0 | 20.7 |
| Nikola Jović | 3 | 25.0 | 17.0 | 62.0 | 20.7 | |
| 4 | Bogdan Bogdanović | 3 | 27.9 | 18.0 | 59.0 | 19.7 |
| 5 | Ismael Romero | 3 | 27.2 | 14.0 | 54.0 | 18.0 |
| Tremont Waters | 3 | 35.1 | 16.7 | 54.0 | 18.0 |