Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu

On Thursday 27 November 2025, Luxembourg’s men’s national basketball team defeated Ireland in their debut match of the 2029 FIBA EuroBasket pre-qualifiers in front of 1,200 spectators at the Coque in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

Luxembourg, ranked 88th in the FIBA world rankings, faced an Irish team positioned six places higher. Compared to their last game in February 2025 against Norway, Ken Diederich called up three new players: Dino Ceman (Basket Esch), David Rocha Davy (Fitosur Murgi, Spain) and Jack Christopher (T71 Dudelange).

The starting five featured Malcolm Kreps, Alex Laurent, Philippe Gutenkauf, Ben Kovac and Clancy Rugg. They quickly began to build a lead for Luxembourg, despite Ireland scoring the opening basket. Kovac delivered the team’s first eight points, scoring from mid-range and twice from beyond the arc, giving the Red Lions an early 8-3 advantage.

The first substitution came in the fifth minute, when Kreps, who had already committed two fouls, was replaced by Oliver Vujakovic. In the meantime, Kovac and Gutenkauf extended the lead to 12-8.

Vujakovic added another three-pointer for Luxembourg before Kovac struck again from long range, pushing the lead into double digits and prompting Ireland’s head coach Michael Bree to call a timeout. The momentum continued, however, as Vujakovic hit his second three and Rugg scored inside to extend the advantage to fifteen points.

Davy David Rocha and Ivan Delgado entered the game with 1:40 remaining in the quarter, giving Rugg and Kovac a brief rest. The first quarter ended 26-11 in favour of the hosts, with Kovac accounting for half of Luxembourg’s points.

At the start of the second quarter, Ireland reduced the deficit, prompting Ken Diederich to bring Rugg and Kovac back onto the court. Kovac immediately answered with his fourth three-pointer, extending Luxembourg’s lead to 33-15. Midway through the quarter, Logelin picked up his third foul and was replaced by Gutenkauf.

Ireland then put together a strong run and cut the gap to five points with four minutes remaining, forcing Luxembourg to call a timeout. Although the visitors continued to match the hosts offensively, the Red Lions held on to a ten-point lead at halftime, heading into the break at 47-37.

The third quarter opened with a three-pointer from Rugg, followed by two long-range shots from Gutenkauf, putting Luxembourg ahead 56-42. However, strong plays from Samuel Alajiki and Rapolas Buyvidas allowed Ireland to cut the deficit to five. Kovac continued his standout performance, reaching 25 points, but the visitors closed the gap to just three with three minutes left, prompting a timeout from Ken Diederich.

Ireland briefly levelled the score for the first time in the game, but Luxembourg quickly responded. A late three-pointer from Vujakovic sent the hosts into the final break with a narrow 64-61 advantage.

In the final quarter, Ireland immediately turned to their leading scorer Taiwo Badmus, who scored and then, after a rebound from Rapolas Buivydas following his missed attempt, added another basket to give the visitors their first lead of the game at 65-64. Kovac replied with a three-pointer, sparking an exchange of long-range shots on both sides, with Badmus and Matthew Zona keeping Ireland narrowly ahead.

Head coach Ken Diederich later described this phase as a key moment of the match, noting: “We were down by four at one point, then we changed a few things on the pick-and-roll. The guys stayed together. Basketball is a game of runs, and we were lucky enough to make the last one.”

With Ireland up 76-74, 34-year-old Clancy Rugg made two key defensive stops before drawing an offensive foul. Moments later, Vujakovic hit his fifth three-pointer to put Luxembourg back in front, prompting an Irish timeout with just under five minutes remaining. Kovac then added a free throw and a close-range basket to restore a four-point lead, and Rugg extended it to 82-76 with three minutes left.

Badmus reduced the gap from the free-throw line, but Rugg came up with another defensive play that led to a fast-break dunk by Kreps, followed by a Gutenkauf three-pointer to push the advantage to ten (87-77) entering the final minute. After another Irish timeout, the home crowd rose to its feet, and Kovac sealed the victory with two late free throws as Luxembourg closed out an 89-77 win.

In a comment to Chronicle.lu, Ken Diederich praised the performance of his players, singling out Luxembourg’s standout scorer: “I think Ben Kovac had an unbelievable game. He had 38 points.” He also highlighted the contribution of veteran forward Clancy Rugg, adding: “Clancy is super valuable because he’s unselfish, he’s smart and he knows exactly what I want from him. He worked really hard on defence. I really want him to play a few more years.”

Reflecting on the overall performance, Diederich expressed pride in the team’s resilience: “I’m extremely proud of the guys because it was a game that had everything. We played really well in the first quarter, then Ireland came back strong, especially in the second half. They made a lot of threes and a lot of difficult shots, and we stayed with it.”

In the parallel Group A fixture, North Macedonia defeated Azerbaijan 87-49 on home court.

Luxembourg will play their next match of the 2029 FIBA EuroBasket pre-qualifiers away against Azerbaijan on Sunday 30 November 2025 at 15:00 in Baku.

(Caption: 2029 FIBA EuroBasket pre-qualifiers match Luxembourg vs Ireland; Credit: Ievgenii Karanov, Chronicle.lu)