Slovenia won a convincing victory over Italy in the first game of group A, 77-67. The Slovenian side went ahead early in the game and never looked back.

Slovenia opened the first quarter best. They scored easy points while Italy had to fight hard for theirs. At the end of the quarter Italy got their game somewhat together and started to score.

In the second quarter Slovenia made a good start again. They dominated the boards and grabed rebounds both defensively and offensively. However, once again Italy responded. At half time Slovenia had the lead 36 to 34.

In the second half, Bostjan Nachbar scored a lot off valuable points for the Slovenian side. He had 21 points in the game. Another player that convinced was Boris Gorenc, who added 14 points for the Slovenian side.

Slovenia were ten points up when the 4th quarter started. They played consistently and although they had team fouls early in the quarter Italy couldn't reach them.

The Slovenian victory was never really threatened.