The starting five poorly launched the French against Georgia, Isaïa Cordinier regrets it: « We were responsible »
Sept 7, 2025
Gabriel Pantel-Jouve
Interview Frédéric Fauthoux: « This is 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 losing 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
In his first international competition as head coach of the French national team, Frédéric Fauthoux experienced failure. Despite the absences, injuries during the campaign (Sarr) or just before (Strazel), France remained favorites in their round of 16 match against Georgia. But the French had a poor start (7-14), chasing the score against a team that had gained confidence.
Despite several comebacks, a good start to the second half (44-40), the game ultimately slipped away from the French, particularly due to their poor 3-point shooting (6/36). After the game, lost by a score of 80-70, the JL Bourg coach didn’t shy away and addressed the press about the reasons for this failure, fully accepting his responsibility.
Frédéric, what were the main things that didn’t work on 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 hit very high-level shots at the end of shot clocks, they gained confidence and we never managed to find that confidence.
Gabriel Pantel-Jouve is the founder and editor-in-chief of BeBasket, which he has been running since 2010 (formerly known as Catch & Shoot). Having studied at the École Publique de Journalisme de Tours and two universities in North America, he has developed his expertise in French basketball, from the National League to amateur divisions, over the past 20 years. Alongside this, he is also involved in the development of clubs in the Montpellier area.
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