• → Game to take place at Spyros Kyprianou Arena, Limassol on Thursday, August 28 at 15:00 EEST (13:00 BST).
• → “La Familia” begin their title defense in Scariolo’s last dance.
• → Georgia’s “Jvarosnebi” (Crusaders) bring size and edge; Toko Shengelia is being monitored after a recent health scare.

Georgia vs Spain - Group C Opener Preview (Scariolo’s Last Dance)

Limassol gets the spotlight. EuroBasket 2025 throws open the doors with a matchup that blends history, emotion, and blunt-force basketball: Georgia’s Jvarosnebi against Spain’s La Familia. For Spain, this tips off the farewell tournament of Sergio Scariolo - the architect behind gold in 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2022 - now guiding a youthful roster through one last run. For Georgia, it’s a measure of how their golden frontcourt generation can scale against a champion in tournament mode.

The Group C picture

This is a meat-grinder: Spain, Greece, Italy, Georgia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and hosts Cyprus. Four move on. The opener matters for seeding, and for both teams’ internal belief: Spain need early rhythm to steady a backcourt rebuilt on the fly; Georgia need proof their size and physicality translate immediately.

Last time these two teams met? EuroBasket 2022, when Spain dismissed Georgia 90-64 ahead of their continental triumph.

Spain - New guards, old standards

La Familia arrive with a rebalanced identity. Scariolo’s guard room is younger: Mario Saint-Supéry and Sergio de Larrea headline a 19-year-old duo tasked with running Spain’s offensive grammar (horns entries, delay actions, handback chains). Expect Darío Brizuela to moonlight as a primary in crunch moments, while the wings (Xabi López-Arostegui, Josep Puerto, Santi Yusta, Joel Parra) keep the spacing honest and the closeouts long.

Up front, the punch is proven. Santi Aldama is the modern fulcrum—pick-and-pop range, short-roll reads, and grab-and-go transition pushes. The Hernangómez brothers split the workload: Willy for seals and touch finishes, Juancho as a cutter/spot-up threat who can crash from the slot. Jaime Pradilla supplies the glue (screens, second possessions, handoff timing) and Yankuba Sima the vertical rim protection minutes.

The task on night one is surgical more than spectacular: keep turnovers low while the young guards feel the game; build shot quality via two-man actions between Aldama and Brizuela; hammer the glass to neutralize Georgia’s second-chance engine. And then there’s the intangible: Scariolo’s last dance. Spain’s baseline is habit—spacing, execution, and late-clock poise—baked in over a decade. That travels, even with a greener backcourt.

Georgia - The frontcourt gauntlet

Few teams can throw as much size and variety at you as Georgia. Goga Bitadze brings defensive range (verticality, blocks, boards) and opportunistic finishing. Giorgi Shermadini gives old-school seals and touch in the lane. Sandro Mamukelashvili toggles between four and five, adding ball skills and face-up drive angles that stress bigs in space. The naturalized guard Kamar Baldwin is the downhill valve when the ball sticks; Rati Andronikashvili connects actions and pressures the paint; Beka Burjanadze stretches pick-and-pop coverage.

The emotional hinge is Toko Shengelia. A heartbeat player for the Jvarosnebi, his all-court game—strong-side post, elbow facilitation, weak-side rotations—elevates the whole structure. After his recent cardiac arrhythmia scare, staff have phased him back with care; if he’s good to go, Georgia’s ceiling lifts. If he’s on a minutes plan, the burden shifts to Mamukelashvili’s creation and Baldwin’s rim pressure.

Georgia’s plan is clear: punish Spain’s youth at the point of attack, pile up free throws with deep seals, and test switches by dragging bigs into space. Defensively, they’ll try to muddy Spain’s rhythm with physicality on handoffs and early gap help on Aldama’s drives - daring Spain’s wings to beat closeouts consistently.

What it means

For La Familia, it’s about tone: professional possessions, low-mistake minutes, and a win that lets Scariolo manage loads across a brutal group. For the Jvarosnebi, it’s a statement chance - if they win the whistle and the glass, they bring Spain into deep water and give their knockout bid real traction from day one.

How to watch Georgia vs Spain

Stream Georgia vs Spain live and on-demand on Courtside 1891. A Max Day Pass gets you the opener, whilst event pass gets you all of EuroBasket. Choose Max Annual Pass for year-round basketball coverage.