Vincent Collet (coach of the French basketball team, after the 93-36 victory against Tunisia): “We knew it wasn’t even Tunisia… normal, let’s say, there were a lot of young people, they were weakened, it’s a bit of a shame. But in the positive points to remember, we really shared the ball, made an effort. Since the beginning (of the rally), we have insisted a lot on playing behind the picks, in order to favor the movement of the ball which we had not managed to find last year, except on rare occasions. There has already been a real effort to share. Now we must continue. We must not stop at this game. It will already be more complicated on Wednesday. And little by little, the adversity will mount. During this time, we have to progress day by day. Faced with more adversity, we will have to continue to play relatively fair. In the first period, we had a lot of baskets after passes, less in one against one, the ball circulated well and we found solutions. We will have to see if we are able to do that when it becomes more challenging. We’ll see. It will be necessary to work to improve the timings, that the players go faster on the markdowns. We’ll see if we can do that against a stronger opponent.” (on beIN SPORTS)
Rudy Gobert (pivot of the France team): “We wanted to take the right habits, regardless of the opponent, regardless of the stage of preparation, that’s our objective. I’m very happy with what we did tonight. The preparation will be short, so every minute counts, every quarter. We will continue to grow. (on his hesitation to come in Blue this summer) When I’m there, I’m there (smile). I’m never halfway there!” (on France 4)
Nando de Colo (French team leader): “We knew it wasn’t necessarily their best team or the biggest warm-up game we could have had, with all due respect to them , but we had to be focused on what we had to do and put into practice what we have worked on since the beginning of the preparation. It’s important to use everything, training, matches, video sessions, those where we are among ourselves. We have to communicate as much as possible, find automatisms in order to be ready from the first match and be the best team possible at the World Cup. Are automatisms coming back fast two years after the Games? Yes of course. I’m not new to the team (smile), so the automatisms are found quite quickly. It’s always a pleasure to wear the blue jersey and to be with the group. Sylvain Francisco and Yakuba Ouattara? It’s good to have generations coming. We know that you need a core and players around who can integrate. They are there to learn, they are in demand but they will contribute, that’s for sure. (on France 4)
