Korea National Basketball Team Advances to the Semifinals
Sept 15, 2026
Woojin Nam
On September 16, there was a match between Jordan and the Korea National Basketball Team at Aichi International Arena. It has been 8 years since Team Korea advanced to the semifinals. In the 1st quarter, Korea led the game by 28-8. The interesting point was defending. Team Korea recorded 5 steals in the 1st quarter. In the attack, Hyun Jung Lee scored 9 points, contributing to creating more points. Moreover, Korea grabbed twice as many rebounds as Jordan and scored a lot of 3 pointers. In the 2nd quarter, Korea extended the lead to 51-27. Yeo Jun Seok and Choi Jun Yong, who missed the previous game, helped Korea through 3 pointers and a dunk.
In the remaining quarters, Korea still dominated the game. They still got more rebounds than Jordan, and Lee Hyun Jung scored outside shots, which led to the win. In the final quarter, they rested their starters. The final score was 114-80, and the Korean national basketball team advanced to the semifinal. Lee Hyun Jung scored 28 points with 6 3-pointers, 5 assists, and 9 rebounds. As Eddie Daniel scored in the last minute, all 12 members made a field goal.
In the semifinal, the opponents are the Iran National Basketball team. Iran is ranked 28th in FIBA, which is considerably higher than Korea (59th). Team Korea is aiming for their 5th gold medal at the Asian Games. The next semifinal match between Korea and Iran will be held on September 18th.
