Lee Hyun-jung Returns, But Men's Basketball Team Suffers 19-Point Defeat to Lebanon

The South Korean men's national basketball team, bolstered by the return of "ace" Lee Hyun-jung, suffered a heavy defeat against Lebanon, dropping to the bottom of their group in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.

Coached by Nikolajs Mazurs, South Korea was decisively beaten 74-93 by Lebanon today (the 28th) in their Group F Round 2 Window 4 match of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers held at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.

As Japan and China both won their respective matches in the same group, South Korea fell to the bottom of Group F with 3 wins and 4 losses, putting a red light on their qualification for the World Cup finals.

Stumbling into a three-game losing streak, which includes two consecutive losses in away friendly matches against Japan, South Korea has managed only 1 win and 6 losses since Coach Mazurs took charge.

Having advanced through the first round of qualifiers as the runner-up in their group, South Korea is carrying over their first-round record into the second round to compete for rankings.

Twelve teams are competing across two groups, with the top three teams from each group and the better-performing fourth-placed team between the two groups securing tickets to the World Cup finals.

South Korea will look to turn the atmosphere around when they host Saudi Arabia at home on the 31st.

Saudi Arabia is also pushed to the brink with an identical record of 3 wins and 4 losses as South Korea.

The start was promising.

Lee Hyun-jung, who joined the team immediately after finishing his NBA Summer League schedule, sank two perimeter shots to help South Korea finish the first quarter ahead at 24-18.

However, they began allowing a comeback in the second quarter, narrowly leading 41-38 at halftime, before their teamwork collapsed drastically in the second half.

Allowing Sergio El Darwich five consecutive points right at the start of the third quarter to tie the game at 41-41, South Korea trailed 60-63 at the end of the third quarter after giving up a turnaround jump shot to Jad Khalil during a tight back-and-forth battle.

In the fourth quarter, they were helpless against Lebanon's perimeter shooting led by Khalil.

South Korea scored just 14 points in the final quarter while conceding a staggering 30 points to Lebanon, ultimately suffering a 19-point defeat.

"Returning ace" Lee Hyun-jung played 30 minutes and 57 seconds, recording 11 points and 5 rebounds, but left lingering regrets by hitting only 2 out of 7 three-point attempts (a 28.6% success rate).

Lee Jung-hyun, who had missed the previous friendly matches against Japan due to an injury aftereffect, also recorded 13 points and 3 assists, but managed to sink only 2 out of 10 three-point attempts.

Yeo Jun-seok put up a team-high 19 points along with 4 rebounds in a valiant effort, but it was not enough.

Lebanon, missing key players such as Wael Arakji, widely considered the top guard in Asia, heavily outperformed South Korea in three-point shooting accuracy with 39.1% compared to South Korea's 22.9%.

In two-point field goal percentage, Lebanon recorded 53.2%, showing paint concentration similar to South Korea's 54.5%.

(Photo: Captured from FIBA website, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.