The team got its campaign off to a poor start with losses to basketball powerhouse Serbia and to hosts Latvia, but opened their account Saturday with a convincing 89:75 win over the Czech Republic, and are currently fourth in the group, enough to reach the knockout stage.

Turkey meanwhile won all three of their games so far, with an average score margin of 25, and have already booked their place in the last 16.

Former player Gert Kullamäe, who in 1993 was a part of the Estonian national team which finished sixth overall in the European championships, said defeating Turkey is not an impossible task. "The Turks have played well, but knowing the boys and the coaches, I do think that we will go in front of this crowd – hopefully tomorrow there will also be many Estonians in the hall – to give them a battle," Kullamäe, whose son Kristian is in the current national team squad, said.

While Turkey has some strong players, including NBA stars, "as far as my intelligence reports tell me, they have problems with injuries in the back-court. We'll see who is even there and who will play tomorrow," he went on.

Since Turkey is already through, "that is also a small plus for us," Kullamäe added.

211 centimeter-tall Alperen Sengün, 23, who plays for the NBA's Houston Rockets; Adem Bona (Philadelphia 76ers) and Cedi Osman (Panathinaikos B.C.) are among the Turkey players Estonia will have to watch out for, as is U.S.-born Shane Larkin, who plays for Turkish team Anadolu Efes and is a naturalized Turkish citizen.

Here are Alperen Şengün's Eurobasket ranks amongst every player so far:

PPG: 19.5 (6th)
FG%: 71.4% (1st) ‼️
RPG: 10.0 (2nd)
APG: 8.0 (2nd)
BPG: 1.5 (3rd)
EFF: 31.5 (2nd) pic.twitter.com/frMl2JoAh7

— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) August 30, 2025

Another former Estonian national team player, Reinar Hallik, said head coach Heiko Rannula's tactical moves could prove to be important and even decisive. "I think that in this sense Heiko is a very good coach and he gives the boys very, very much. Tactically he has outplayed quite a few coaches. Heiko's tactics are our trump against Turkey," he said.

Even so, Rannula must outwit Turkey's coach Ergin Ataman, who has steered Anadolu Efes to two EuroLeague championships followed by last year's title with Panathinaikos.

Ataman was nonetheless full of praise for his team's upcoming opponents. "Estonia is a strong team – they have played very well in the last two games," he told Turkish media.

The Estonia-Turkey game in Riga starts at 2.45 p.m. Monday.

Only one more Group A game awaits Estonia after that, against Portugal, who have also won one and lost two so far.

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