Serbia beat Italy, 76-64, in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 second round. Played at Vitrifrigo Arena with tip-off scheduled for , the road win keeps Serbia unbeaten in Europe · Group J.
The visitors seized control early and reached halftime up nine, 40-31. Italy answered with a 23-17 third quarter to cut the deficit to 57-54, but Serbia closed with a 19-10 fourth that settled the game.
Aleksa Avramovic and Marko Guduric paced Serbia with 20 and 19 points. Nikola Jokic added eight points and eight rebounds in a quieter scoring night, but still helped inside.
For Italy, Nico Mannion kept them alive with 23 points and a perfect 10-of-10 from the line, yet the hosts lacked offensive rhythm: they finished at 34.7% from the field (17/49) with just 24 rebounds.
Rebounding and the closing quarter made the difference. Serbia finished with 31 boards to Italy's 24 and won the decisive period by nine. Italy turned the ball over three fewer times (15-17) but could not turn that into momentum in a game where Serbia also shot better from the stripe (25/32 to 23/26).
The result strengthens Serbia's position atop Europe · Group J at 2-0 after two weeks. Italy drop to 0-2 in the group and 5-3 overall. The win keeps Serbia on track in the World Cup race; for Italy, the defeat leaves them needing a response in a group where ground has already been lost.
