The FIBA U18 Asian Championship came to an end with Sri Lanka returning to the island win-less, after having lost 5 of 5. Let`s look at the numbers, did Sri Lanka do better from game to game? What went wrong for them from game to game?

Game 01 – Sri Lanka v Hong-Kong

Full time: Sri Lanka 41: Hong Kong 87 (HT 10 – 40)

Sri Lanka lost the first match to Hong- Kong by 46 points after trailing the game by 30 points at half time.

Read: Zero basics, cost first match for Sri Lanka

Head-to-head

1996 – Sri Lanka beat Hong Kong 39-33
1998 – Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 57-49
2007 – Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 51-77
2014 – Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 42-33

So, from losing the game by 09 points in 2014, Sri Lanka went down by as many as 46 points this year. What went wrong? Is it the team composition, preparation or the playing conditions?

Scoring Percentages

2 pointers – Hong Kong 35.96% Sri Lanka 32.56%
3 pointers – Hong Kong 27.78% Sri Lanka 22.22%
Free Throws – Hong Kong 47.06% Sri Lanka 38.89%

Sri Lanka are clearly behind in all scoring aspects with there being nearly a 10% gap in the free-throws, which is really quite disappointing.

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Basketball is game where you have to adapt quickly. The game is short and fast hence every decimal point and every percentage matters inside the forty minutes of play.

Defensive rebounds – Sri Lanka 34 Hong Kong 12
Offensive rebounds – Sri Lanka 18 Hong Kong 27
Steals conceded – Sri Lanka 36 Hong Kong 03
Points via fast breaks – Sri Lanka 0 Hong Kong 16

Sri Lanka topped the rebound cards quite comfortably, owing perhaps to the height advantage they possessed. However, what was yet another disappointing factor was that Sri Lanka could not produce the same results in offensive rebounds. If they had registered more offensive rebounds, the scores perhaps would have been different. Sri Lanka conceded 36 steals to Hong Kong’s 3 that’s 36 possessions of Sri Lanka halted inside the forty minutes of play. 03 steals for the entire forty minutes, where is the hustle for the ball?

Starting 5

Shereen Preena played 27:56mins of the match and did not manage a single point, with 5 attempts at the basket; she managed five rebounds. Skipper Nirma Samarasinghe played 32:24mins and only managed 01 assist, 10 rebounds and 03 successful field goals out of 09 attempts. Vice-Captain Manthila Gallassage had 13 rebounds and 05 successful conversions of field goals from 09 attempts in the 24:14mins she played. Resuree Wijesundere played 25:40min and had 11 rebounds and 03 field goals from 11 attempts. Dilumi Goonewardene who played for 35:12min in the match only made 02 field goals from 10 attempts.

The Bench

The players who were substituted into the game scored only 13 points collectively while the Hong-Kong bench scored a mammoth 40 points.   

Where was Sri Lanka’s offense when it was needed the most? Perhaps this was one of the worst starts to a tournament they have had.            


Game 02 – Sri Lanka v Indonesia

Full time: Sri Lanka 47: Indonesia 73 (HT 23 – 41)  

Coming into the second game of the tournament, Sri Lanka lost by a deficit of 26 points after trailing the game by 18 points at half time. It was a better performance by the Lankans in catching up with the opposition, when compared to their showing in the 1st game.

Read: Indonesia tops Sri Lanka

Scoring Percentages

2 pointers – Indonesia 27.94% Sri Lanka 33.33%
3 pointers – Indonesia 27.27% Sri Lanka 16.67%
Free Throws – Indonesia 60.71% Sri Lanka 36.84%

Sri Lanka improved in the 2 Points FG in this game as they ended the game but the story of the 3 Pointers remained the same with the free-throw difference between the two teams being far worse.

Free-throws can always change the fate of the game and it showcases the commitment and dedication that has gone in before the games. Unfortunately the stats in this game suggest that they are just bad at a key aspect of the game.

Defensive rebounds – Sri Lanka 38 Indonesia 28
Offensive rebounds – Sri Lanka 19 Indonesia 23
Steals conceded – Sri Lanka 18 Indonesia 4

Sri Lanka`s good run in defensive rebounds continued as the Islanders had a total number of 57 rebounds.

The nightmare in conceding steals continued for Sri Lanka and they were just unable to find the hustle for the ball in the tournament. Sri Lanka had 32 turnovers which could have been converted into points and if so perhaps Sri Lanka would have won the game.

Starting 5

Lubna Morseth, starting the game for the first time in the tournament, played for 32.21min and only tried 01 field goal and failed in that attempt too. She had 03 rebounds under her name. Shereen Preena played for 34:19min and improving from the previous game opted for 11 field goals and converted 06 of them, while getting one assist and a rebound.

Dilumi Goonewardene failed to find her form and only converted 02 of her 15 attempted field goals. Yet she managed to get 06 defensive rebounds and 04 offensive rebounds under her name. Resuree Wijesundere swished the nets 03/10 times. Nirma Samarasinghe had a 4/13 field goal success rate after playing for 31:40min in the match. Both these players had 11 and 15 rebounds under their name. But where is the offense? They were in desperate need of that to cut down the deficit and win the game.

The Bench

When the starting five was not doing well, maybe the rotation of players would have shifted momentum for Sri Lanka. Four players out of the starting lineup played for 30+ minutes (except Resuree who played for 19:48min). It`s a very little time that the substituted players have got to settle into the game. For Sri Lanka the bench points in the game stood at 09. A little bit of rotation would have done justice to the to the team.     

Stay logged ThePapare.com as we analyze the Sri Lanka v Singapore and the Sri Lanka v Malaysia matches in next.