The Nick Kay-led Australian Boomers take step one in the pursuit of a third-straight FIBA Asia Cup triumph in Bendigo on Thursday night.
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The Boomers will play Korea at Red Energy Arena in what is their first game of qualifying for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
The Boomers have won the past two Asia Cups in 2022 and 2017.
Kay, who made his national debut for Australia during the successful 2017 Asia Cup campaign, will captain an Australian team featuring six debutantes, with Rocco Zikarsky (Brisbane Bullets), Josh Bannan (Brisbane Bullets), Nick Marshall (Adelaide 36ers), Jordan Hunter (Sydney Kings), Kye Savage (Centre of Excellence) and Josh Dent (Centre of Excellence) all representing the Boomers for the first time.
"It's great to be back in Bendigo... the crowd always shows so much support and the community is great in embracing us," the Tamworth product said.
"Bendigo is a big basketball city and it's great to be able to come back and help grow basketball in Bendigo where a lot of great players come from."
As well as the six debutantes and Kay, the Boomers' team for Thursday night's game also includes Taran Armstrong (Cairns Taipans), Dean Vasilijevic (Adelaide 36ers), Ben Henshall (Perth Wildcats), Isaac Humphries (Adelaide 36ers) and former Boomers captain Mitch McCarron (Adelaide 36ers).
"There's a lot of new faces in the team, but there's also some guys who have been around a long time as well," Kay said.
"There's some guys who have really got the opportunity ahead of them to continue to grow and be members of World Cup and Olympic teams in the future and this is a chance to show what they can do in the green and gold.
"This is a great opportunity for our guys to experience what it's like to be at the top level in Australian basketball that will help to continue to grow their game."
This is a great opportunity for our guys to experience what it's like to be at the top level in Australian basketball that will help to continue to grow their game
- Nick Kay - Australian Boomers captain
Thursday night will be the first time the Boomers have played in Bendigo since thrashing Iran 98-68 in a World Cup qualifier in August of 2022.
Of Thursday night's team Kay is the only member who was part of the Boomers' squad that won Australia's first Olympic medal with a bronze in 2022.
Kay is also the only Boomers' member on Thursday night who is not playing domestically in Australia this season.
Dual Olympian Kay is playing with the Shimane Susanoo Magic in Japan.
Australia, being coached by Brian Goorjian, is currently at No.4 in the FIBA rankings behind the USA, Spain and Germany.
Thursday night's opponent, Korea, is at No.51.
"Korean basketball is tough. They get into you defensively with a lot of traps and shoot a lot of threes, so we've got to be ready for that," Kay said.
"They are definitely going to play hard and we've got to find a way to match that and then try to play our style as well.
"This is a great opportunity for our guys to show what they can do in the green and gold and we're really looking forward to the game."
The 2025 FIBA Asia Cup will be played in Saudia Arabia from August 5-17 featuring 16 teams.
As well as Korea, Australia is in the same qualifying group as Thailand and Indonesia.
