Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday scored a rare win over archrivals China at the FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China, raising hopes that they can finish with their highest ranking at the Games.
After being devastated 100-70 by Lithuania and 118-60 by Brazil in their first two Pool A round-robin games, Taiwan upset China 97-84 to finish third in the group, ahead of 0-3 China.
Down 48-46 at halftime, Taiwan rallied to take a 76-66 lead by the end of the third quarter and held China to only seven points in the first 5 minutes of the final quarter to secure the upset, led by Gao Jin-wei’s game-high 26 points.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Entering the game, neither of the teams had any chance of advancing to the quarter-finals, but the victory over China was cause for celebration for Taiwan.
“We were able to win because none of us wanted to lose,” said head coach Liu Meng-chu, who also coaches the T1 League’s Tainan TSG GhostHawks and Chien Hsin University of Science and Technology men’s varsity team.
Although the World University Games is not a top-tier international event, Monday’s showdown was still competitive, as the Chinese roster included many professionals from the Chinese Basketball Association.
The upset drew attention online from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, with some comparing it to Taiwan’s more significant and dramatic 96-78 upset of defending champions China at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship.
Describing Group A as the “group of death,” Liu said Taiwan were focused on surpassing the team’s previous best 13th-place finish at a University Games, achieved in 2017.
A victory tonight over South Africa, who finished last in Pool B with an 0-3 record, would guarantee Taiwan no worse than 12th place.
Gao was the star of the game, making 10 of his 14 goal attempts, including five of eight from beyond the arc, in only 21 minutes on the floor.
One of the biggest fans of Gao’s performance was Johnny Yen, the chief operating officer of the T1 League’s Taiwan Beer Leopards (formed last month by the merger of the Taoyuan Leopards and the Taiwan Beer Herobears), which recently drafted Gao with the second overall pick.
He wrote on Facebook that he would celebrate with a big braised pork knuckle meal.
The game also exposed fans to the skills of point guard Yu Ai-che, who scored 13 points with 11 assists.
Yu, 21, was the University Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player of the 2022-23 season.
He has held the association’s assist and steal titles three seasons in a row since being admitted to National Chengchi University (NCCU) in the summer of 2020 and has led his school to three consecutive titles.
Yu is set to turn pro next year and could follow the path of NCCU senior Lin Yan-ting and look to play in China.
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