The Armenian national basketball team finished its pre-qualification campaign for the 2027 FIBA World Cup with a convincing 91-70 victory over Albania. This match was the last one for the Armenian team in the qualification cycle.
Chris Jones’ Leadership
A key factor in Armenia’s success was Valencia's legionnaire Chris Jones, who became the top scorer of the game. He recorded 34 points, along with 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 steal. Andre Spight-Mkrtchyan also played a crucial role with 22 points, while Zak Tavitian contributed 18 points. Gabriel Adjemian (9 points) and Albert Tadevosyan (8 points) also added to the tally.
Performance Summary
Armenia finished the group stage in second place in Group C with a total of 6 points. However, this result is unlikely to be enough to advance to the next round. According to the tournament regulations, only one of the second-placed teams across all groups will progress to the next stage. In Group B, Norway has a significantly better point differential and is likely to surpass Armenia in the battle for this spot.
Armenia’s results in the pre-qualification stage:
- Austria – Armenia 106:91
- Armenia – Albania 84:79
- Armenia – Austria 80:129
- Albania – Armenia 70:91
Thus, Armenia delivered an impressive and commendable qualification campaign, securing two victories. However, the team’s fate now depends on the final match in Group B, where Romania will face Norway. Theoretically, if Romania wins by a margin of 45 points, Armenia could advance, but such an outcome is highly unlikely.
Despite this, the Armenian national team demonstrated competitiveness and great potential, which inspires optimism ahead of future international tournaments.
The turning points of this qualification for the Armenian national team were the two home matches, as paradoxical as it may sound.
The not-so-convincing victory over Albania (+5 points) and the crushing defeat against Austria (-49 points) became decisive factors.
The team performed better away: they confidently defeated Albania and lost to Austria by a smaller margin—only 15 points.
The reason lies in the fact that Gabriel Adjemian, the only player on the team with strong defensive skills, could not participate in the home matches. He does a huge amount of dirty work and creates additional attacking opportunities.
However, Adjemian cannot play in Armenia due to issues related to military service. It is unclear why this problem has still not been resolved!