Lee Jeong-hyun explodes with 25 points... Korean men's basketball advances to quarterfinals, ranked first in group with victory over Korea-Japan at Asian Games

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-ah = Lee Jeong-hyeon (Sono), the best player (MVP) of the Korean professional basketball regular league last season, lived up to his name with a great performance in the Korea-Japan match, which was considered the biggest challenge in the group stage of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Lee Jeong-hyun played well in the Asian Games men's basketball group stage match against Japan held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan on the 13th, scoring a record 25 points, including 5 3-point shots, and providing 7 assists.

Korea, led by Lee Jeong-hyun, defeated Japan 100-83, won three consecutive wins in the group stage, and advanced to the quarterfinals as first place in Group A.

The match against Japan on this day, which was held after successive big wins against Saudi Arabia on the 10th and Indonesia on the 11th, was not only a 'match for first place in the group' between teams with two consecutive wins, but also a watershed that could influence the atmosphere of future tournaments for Korea.

Although Japan did not send the 'best players' such as Rui Hachimura or Yuta Watanabe to the Asian Games, it was still powerful with naturalized player Alex Kirk and several mixed-race players.

In repeated seesaw games, Korea faced a critical moment with the unexpected departure of tall guard Lee Woo-seok in the middle of the third quarter. At this time, Lee Jung-hyun appeared and completely changed the mood.

Jeong-Hyun Lee narrowed the gap to 62-63 with a 3-point play with 1 minute and 39 seconds left in the third quarter, and turned the game around to 65-63 with a 3-point shot 1 minute and 4 seconds ago.

Then, at the end of the third quarter, he scored consecutive 3-pointers, leading Korea to end the quarter with a 71-66 lead.

Korea continued this momentum into the fourth quarter and finished the group stage on a high note by beating the home team, Japan, which was considered the most difficult opponent in Group A.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, whom we met after the game, said, "It was an important game that decided first place in the group, but it was not easy from the beginning. The opponent was a naturalized player, so there were some difficult parts, but the big man players worked really hard to take care of the bad work under the goal and attack rebounds, and the players confidently created many good opportunities on the outskirts, so we were able to play a good game."

He continued, "I didn't shoot very well in the previous two games, but my condition was good, so I was confident. Today, I attacked a little more aggressively from the beginning, and as I got good results, I became more confident." He added, "I think my teammates knew that I had a good feeling, so they created good opportunities and made screens, so we got good results."

Lee Jung-hyun, who scored only 6 points in the first game against Saudi Arabia and 4 points in the second game against Indonesia, came back to life in the Korea-Japan game, and the men's basketball team, which is aiming for its first gold medal in 12 years, entered the single game with great encouragement.

Lee Jeong-hyeon emphasized, "Our goal is to win the Asian Games," and added, "I think this is just the beginning, and I will do my best to achieve results in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals."