SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga men's basketball's Mario Saint-Supéry and the Spanish national team open the 2025 European Basketball Championship against Georgia Thursday at 5 a.m. Pacific Time.
 
Saint-Supéry will gain valuable experience at EuroBasket, featuring 35 current NBA players including Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Bogdan Bogdanović (Serbia), Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Nikola Jović (Serbia), Dennis Schröder (Germany), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), and Luka Dončić (Slovenia). Thirty-eight former NBA players will also play in the tournament, which takes place from Aug. 27- Sept. 14, with four host countries: Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Poland.
 
The event will culminate with the Final Phase and championship game, which will be played at Arena Riga in Latvia.
 
Former Zag standout Filip Petrusev is a member of Serbia's national team. Serbia enters the event ranked second in the most recent FIBA rankings, the highest rated team in the tournament, while Spain is fifth.
 
Spain is in Group C in the tournament and will face each country in its group during round-robin play. Spain's first game is Thursday against Georgia, and continues with matchups against Bosnia and Herzegovina Friday (11:30 a.m. PT), Cyprus on Sunday (8:15 a.m. PT), Italy on Sept. 2 (11:30 A.M. PT), and Greece on Sept. 4 (11:30 a.m. PT).
 
Saint-Supéry debuted with Spain's Senior National team in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers, on Nov. 22, 2024. The 6-3 guard from Málaga, Spain, brings a wealth of experience from his time with Unicaja Malaga and BAXI Manresa in Spain's top ACB league.
 
During the 2024–25 season with Baxi Manresa, Saint-Supéry averaged 8.3 points, 2.1 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game, shooting 46.7 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from three-point range and 86.7 percent from the free throw line – in less than 15 minutes of action per game.
 
A staple of Spain's youth national teams, Saint-Supéry was named MVP of the 2022 FIBA U16 European Championship and delivered standout performances at the 2023 and 2024 FIBA U18 European Championships, averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game on the latter, including a triple-double of 35 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against Slovenia.
 
Another former Bulldog, Kyle Wiltjer led Canada to a 3-0 record through group play at the FIBA AmeriCup in Managua, Nicaragua. The Canadians enter bracket play as the top-seed and will face Colombia Thursday at 8:10 p.m. PT. Wiltjer totaled 31 points through the first three games.
 
Fans can watch the European Basketball Championships and the AmeriCup through subscription-based Courtside 1891.