Jukka Toijala, who has coached the Estonian national basketball team since 2019, was able to enjoy a historic victory over Lithuania in the EC qualifiers.
Timo Uusitalo,
Jouko Vuolle
Jukka Toijalan coached by Estonia made a huge surprise in the men’s EC basketball qualifiers by beating rock-hard Lithuania 65–59 in Tallinn on Monday. The last quarter went to Estonia 15-9.
– It was a big deal for Estonians that they finally managed to beat their big brother in basketball. You could feel it in the hall yesterday, that it was a really big issue.
– It was the first official victory over Lithuania, it had been attempted eight times before, the Finnish coach confirmed the importance of surprise for his defenders.
For example, hundreds of Estonians always go to the home matches of the big club BC Zalgiris in Lithuania and also in Europe to watch the top basket.
– That if anything tells about how Lithuanian basketball is appreciated here, Toijala instructs.
Estonia brought the best to the qualifying window
Estonia’s most effective player in the victory over Lithuania was the big winger who plays in the Polish league Anwil Wloclawek Janari Joesaar 18/6. Also a center playing in the Spanish league Maik-Kalev Kotsar 11/13 played an important role.
With the Estonian defender Kristian Kullamae didn’t have the best pitching day (6/3/9s), but he was still by far the best on his team in plus/minus, +18.
Lithuania’s best scorers were Edgaras Ulanovas and Tomas Dimsa with 16 and 14 points.
In last summer’s World Cup, Lithuania won its first five matches and, among others, the United States, but lost in the quarterfinals to Serbia, who advanced to the World Cup final. In the end, Lithuania was ranked sixth.
Toijala’s defenders have now won their opening two matches in the H group. In the first EC qualifying game, North Macedonia fell 74–69 away from home. The fourth country in the group is Poland.
– In this qualifying window, we actually got our best players who were healthy. In advance, the expectations were that we would take at least one victory. The victory against Lithuania was of course a bonus.
Hoping for a bigger hall for national team basketball
Estonia’s problem at the moment is that it does not have a big enough, modern hall for national team basketball.
– Against Lithuania, the hall was already sold out several weeks ago. Now, when the first tickets for next November’s qualifying match (against Poland) went on sale, all 4,000 went immediately. Our hall of 7,000 spectators is starting to get small, admitted Toijala.
In the next EC qualifying window, in November, we will play for big stakes. Poland has two losses so far, just like surprisingly Spain also in the C qualifying group.
– There were surprises, which is great for the sport. Every qualifying match is really important when only six games are played. Every big win or loss can make a big difference in the end. The stakes will of course increase the closer we get to the last qualifying window (February 2025), Toijala reminded.
Naturally, Toijala has also followed Susijeng closely.
– Of course, the place in the competition is certain for Finland because of the hosting of the competition, but the performance that Susijengi offered in Serbia, largely in the game, was very positive.
– Of course, training has a place to try out some players and test certain things, but every time we put on the national team jersey, we play for victory. The Madsens, the Maxhuns, the Jantuses and the Valtoses have raised the level, and that probably bodes well for Finnish basketball in the future, Toijala sees.