Facts and Figures: FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines concluded the first window of the Asian Qualifiers to the 2019 FIBA World Cup with two wins in Group B.

But Manila isn’t the only place where the action was.

Here are some facts from the last window of the competition and some sports nuggets to chew on:

• Group B is the only group with two teams unbeaten (Australia & Philippines), both winning against Japan and Chinese Taipei.
• The Philippines marked their territory, taking the most defensive rebounds (67) and making the most blocks (18) during the Asian WC qualifier. Andray Blatche grabbed 7 more defensive rebounds than any other player in Asia (24) and no other player made more blocks than him (8).
• New Zealand outclassed Honk Kong with their win 133-74, the biggest margin in a WC qualifier game in Asia (59 points).
• New Zealand also led Asia in these qualifiers in points scored (213) and 3-points made (27), with the best accuracy in both (57.4 FG percentage and 54.0 3-point percentage).
• Kazakhstan was the most accurate team from the free throw line during the Asian WC qualifiers, with 78 percent success (32/41).
• Syria were the only team to take 100 rebounds during these Asian WC qualifiers but also made the most fouls (44).
• Australia made the more assists during this window in Asia (50).
• Hong Kong are the only team to have lost all their 8 quarters during these first two rounds of games in the Asian WC qualifiers.
• China’s Zhelin Wang is the only player in the Asian WC qualifiers to have recorded a double-double in each of his two games (11points and 11 rebounds versus Hong Kong and 16 points and 11 rebounds against Korea) despite playing on average only 22.7 minutes per game.
• Kazakhstan’s Rustam Murzagaliyev made all of his six 3-point attempts against Qatar, the best in these Asian WC qualifiers.