EuroBasket 2025 has been nothing short of surprising. Teams have taken a page out of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament by pulling off multiple major upsets. One of the biggest in the tournament’s history came from Georgia against France. Georgian big man Sandro Mamukelashvili didn’t hold back after the shocking victory. Following the game, he took some friendly jabs at French star Victor Wembanyama.
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Ahead of the EuroBasket 2025, France was one of the favorites to win the entire tournament. In comparison to other nations, they were one of the most experienced and talented. Their roster featured a plethora of NBA talent, such as Bilal Coulibaly, Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, and Guerschon Yabusele.
The majority of those players were also on the national team roster for the Paris 2024 Olympics, who faced Team USA in the gold medal match. With one game standing in their way ahead of the quarterfinals, it seemed a foregone conclusion that France would be among the final eight teams. Georgia had other plans en route to an 80-70 victory.
Georgia’s victory came as a huge shock, even though France didn’t have their best roster. France’s best player, Victor Wembanyama, wasn’t with the team, but Sandro Mamukelashvili boldly proclaimed his presence wouldn’t have changed the outcome.
“Right now, I can text Victor Wembanyama and tell him we just won,” Mamukelashvili said to the media after the game. “We just beat France, and it’s too bad he was not here because we would beat them with him too.”
To the casual fan, Mamu’s comments would come across as extremely cocky and arrogant, which may still be somewhat true. However, it’s important to understand the context of him and Wembanyama’s relationship.
The two were teammates on the San Antonio Spurs for the past two seasons. That will no longer be the case as Mamu signed with the Toronto Raptors this offseason. Despite being good friends, there’s a clear competitive connection between the two.
Any true competitor will have confidence in themselves, which Mamukelashvili certainly has. He even went out on a limb to declare Georgia’s victory over France a bigger upset than Finland’s win against Serbia.
“Ours for sure,” Mamu said. “[France] were favorites to win, and we came out so poised. People come out agitated against teams like this, and we were like, just no pressure. We come out there and we play our basketball.”
Georgia will need to maintain that same recipe for their next game against Finland. This is the first time in program history that they will play in the quarterfinals. However, Mamukelashvili and the rest of the Georgian roster aren’t content with just being there. They have their focus on advancing. The highly anticipated matchup will take place on Wednesday, September 1,0 at 10 AM ET.
