Sept 7, 2025
Gabriel Pantel-Jouve
Interview Frédéric Fauthoux: « It’s a failure we’ll have to own up to »
French National Team - Frédéric Fauthoux discussed France's elimination in the EuroBasket round of 16 after their loss to Georgia (70-80). Clearly very disappointed, the new French head coach acknowledges his team's poor start and takes his share of responsibility.
Photo Credit : Julie Dumélié
For his first international competition as head coach of the French national team, Frédéric Fauthoux experienced a setback. Despite withdrawals, injuries during the campaign (Sarr) or just before (Strazel), France remained favorites in their round of 16 match against Georgia. But the French got off to a poor start (7-14), chasing the score against a solid and experienced team. Despite several comebacks, the game ultimately slipped away from the French, particularly due to their poor three-point shooting (6/36). After the game, lost 80-70, the JL Bourg coach didn’t dodge questions and discussed with the press the reasons for this failure, a term he fully accepts.
Frédéric, what do you think were the main things that didn’t work this Sunday?
The start of the game, which didn’t have the intensity we expected. It was the first time in the competition where we allowed so many drives early in the game. We’ll look at why. We’ll also need to discuss with the guys. But yes, it’s a huge disappointment because we didn’t bring the necessary intensity for a game of this importance. When you’re constantly chasing the score, when the Georgians are making very high-level shots at the end of shot clocks, they gained confidence while we never managed to find that confidence.
You mention the poor start. But could you sense it before the game? Was there anything particular during warmup or earlier in the day that suggested you might start badly?
We can always find a thousand reasons. I don’t think so. I think we did what was necessary. I think the guys wanted to perform too, but we can’t always know what’s in players’ minds. These aren’t guys who cheat. We’ve seen it throughout the competition. I think they gave everything they had, everything that was needed. We fought hard. The team spirit was excellent. Now, in basketball, you need to put the ball in the basket. They scored 80 points while making shots at the shot clock buzzer regularly, or drawing fouls at the shot clock buzzer. We missed our open shots.
« The guys gave it their all »
How do you explain the poor three-point shooting?
That’s also a question for the players. They’re the ones shooting. We try to build their confidence. We try to reassure them. I also take my share of responsibility. Should I have put players in more comfortable positions? We had to rebalance the team before departing. After the Athens game, you saw it. We were constantly rebuilding within the group. All of that combined was perhaps a bit too much for all of us.
Are lack of experience and withdrawals two major factors explaining the final result?
Especially the withdrawals during the competition. The withdrawals we had along the way hurt us, we had to rebalance everything and establish a new hierarchy. Yes, there was some lack of experience in emotional management of these types of games. But I repeat, the guys gave it their all, I’m disappointed for all of us, for French basketball because obviously, we wanted to do much better. I hope we’ll learn from this to be better in future competitions.
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Gabriel Pantel-Jouve est le fondateur et rédacteur en chef de BeBasket, qu’il anime depuis 2010 (sous le nom de Catch & Shoot). Passé par l’Ecole Publique de Journaliste de Tours, puis deux universités en Amérique du Nord, il a pu développer son expertise sur le basket français, de la Ligue Nationale aux divisions amateurs, durant ces 20 dernières années. En parallèle, il est aussi engagé dans le développement de clubs du côté de Montpellier.
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