Sweden reached EuroBasket 2025 Spherical of 16 for first time since 2013, establishing a knockout conflict towards Turkiye on Saturday. Their development got here after Nice Britain eradicated Montenegro in Tampere on Wednesday, giving Sweden the tiebreaker wanted to advance.
“That was wonderful,” Melwin Pantzar recalled to Eurohoops on Friday. “We had been within the locker room, watching the sport, seeing the field rating on a small TV we had within the locker room, and we had been so pleased when Nice Britain received. Simply thrilling, thrilling to undergo to the subsequent section. I believe we labored exhausting to get right here, and we deserve it, so I’m simply pleased.”
Sweden completed fourth in Group B with a 1-4 file, edging out Montenegro and Nice Britain within the three-way tie.
“The factor I’m pleased with the group is that we actually fought exhausting each sport,” the 25-year-old guard added. “We got here in with mentality. We made it exhausting for the opposite groups. We had been proper there, apart from the sport towards Germany, the place they outplayed us. A very good group, possibly the favourite.”
Pantzar acknowledged some areas for enchancment.
“The issues we might have accomplished higher are on the finish of each sport,” he mentioned. “We made some small errors, particularly particulars, offensive rebounds, we let the opposite groups take the rebounds, after which in offense we didn’t actually know what to do. So I believe we’ve obtained to be on the identical web page, particularly on the finish of the video games. And study from these errors and attempt to do it higher.”
Waiting for the knockout stage, Sweden faces Turkiye in Xiaomi Area.
“We’re actually excited. We all know that this sport is already historical past for us, and now we’re gonna play in that sport to make it to the quarters,” Pantzar defined.
“That might be wonderful for Sweden, for us, for the entire nation. So, we’re simply excited we’re going towards [Alperen] Sengun, top-of-the-line gamers on this EuroBasket, if not the most effective. We play towards Shane Larkin, a legend in Europe. For me, for the opposite guards, it’s a privilege to play towards him as a result of he’s at what we wish to get to. So, we’re going to return into the sport, combat actually exhausting to get 100% and let’s see what occurs.”
🇸🇪 Melwin Pantzar and Sweden are dealing with Turkiye within the Spherical of 16 #EuroBasket
🗣️ “This sport is already historical past for us, and now we’re gonna play in that sport to make it to the quarters”https://t.co/B9cldartDq
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 5, 2025
