The Opals managed to spring an upset on the home nation in their final group game at the 2024 Paris Olympics to secure their spot in the knockout phase. They’ve been set the task of taking on Serbia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night (7pm AEST), and we have you covered with our game full preview and best bet below!
2024 Paris Olympic Games – Women’s Basketball
Australia vs Serbia (Wednesday 7pm AEST)
The Opals had a nightmare start to their Olympic campaign in Paris when they lost as the $1.01 favourites against Nigeria in their opening game. Thankfully, they were able to bounce back with a win against #5 ranked Canada before causing a mini upset against host nation, France in their third and final Group B game.
Despite securing a surprise win against France, turnovers again plagued the Opals as they finished with 17. They’ve now had a whopping 63 turnovers through three games which is by far the highest of the eight teams remaining in the competition.
On a positive note, the Aussies have started to shoot the ball a lot better. They shot a tidy 58.5% from the field against the French where they were able to generate a number of high-quality looks in the paint. Ezi Magbegor was terrific with 14 points and six rebounds, while Tess Madgen was lighting it up from deep to finish with a game-high 18 points.
Similarly, Serbia had a shaky start to their Olympic campaign with a narrow three-point win against Puerto Rico in their first outing despite being massive $1.04 favourites. However, they quickly kicked into gear in their second match when they recorded a confidence-building 22-point win against China as the heavy underdogs. They then rounded out their group stage with a narrow loss against Spain.
Women’s basketball in Serbia has come on leaps and bounds over the past 10 years. They only qualified for the Olympics for the first time in Rio 2016 and finished with a bronze medal, and backed it up with another huge effort in Tokyo 2020 where they finished fourth. On top of that, Serbia won the EuroBasket in 2021 and finished fifth in the most recent edition in 2023.
Game Prediction: The Opals finished with at least a bronze medal in five straight Olympics from 1996-2012 but have failed to live up to expectations in recent editions, losing out in the quarterfinals in their past two attempts. Now in the quarterfinals once again, the Opals will be desperate to make it third time lucky.
However, despite being the clear favourites on Wednesday night, I don’t expect them to have it all their own way. The Serbs have made a knack of causing big upsets at major tournaments recently and have already showed their prowess in Paris when they smashed the #2 ranked China by 22 points in the group stage. With that front of mind, I like the underdogs at the generous +8.5 line here.
