Wang Junjie, who came out of Zhejiang Hailiang, became the biggest surprise of the Chinese men s basketball team in the Asian Cup

Travel News Client reporter Cao Linbo

After winning all three group matches in the Saudi Asian Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team advanced to the knockout stage as the first in the group and secured a seat in the quarterfinals in advance.

In three group matches, Wang Junjie, who made his first appearance in the official match of the adult national team, gave the most surprises from Chinese fans: this young player born in 2005 and 2.06 meters tall, showed maturity beyond his age on both ends of the offense and defense, and performed quite amazingly. It makes people sigh that his partnership with Yang Hansen may be the backbone of the Chinese men's basketball team in the next ten years.

The national team debuted, and fans confronted him with the coach

Before the Asian Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team had a very impressive performance in four warm-up matches in Hangzhou and Nanjing. When he came to Saudi Arabia's Asian Cup, he made his debut in the official match of the men's basketball adult national team for the first time. Wang Junjie still tried his best and was not nervous.

Fighting the host Saudi team in the first game of the group stage, Wang Junjie played in the bench in 9 minutes in the first half and scored 10 points and 4 rebounds, making 1 of 2 three-pointers, with a plus-minus value of up to +13 points. But Wang Junjie only got 6 minutes of playing time in the second half, and after fouling when he was saving his opponent's three-pointer, he did not get another chance to play.

In the end, the Chinese men's basketball team won the game, but because of Wang Junjie's meaningless three-point foul, Guo Shiqiang yelled at him during the timeout: "Can he make a shot?" The scene was flooded on the Internet after the game. Fans questioned Guo Shiqiang's choice to "abandon" Wang Junjie after this foul.

The first official national team game can cause fans to "speak up" for him, which shows that Wang Junjie has successfully won fans.

Guo Shiqiang explained the reason why Wang Junjie was not used at the post-match press conference of that game: it was mainly because Wang Junjie lacked defensive experience, and Saudi Arabia changed its "one big and four small" team, so Zhu Junlong needed to improve his flexibility. In the following two group matches, Guo Shiqiang also used practical actions to illustrate that he had his own arrangements for Wang Junjie's use. In both games against India and Jordan, Guo Shiqiang put Wang Junjie in the starting position.

Wang Junjie did not disappoint the coach's expectations. After the start, he cooperated with veteran players such as Hu Jinqiu and Zhao Rui to play a smooth attack, helping the team take the lead at the beginning and successfully won two games. Especially in the game against India, Wang Junjie made 5 of 5 shots and 3 of 3 three-pointers and was in a very hot state.

Now Wang Junjie has begun to enjoy the treatment of the main players interviewed by major media in turn. He also mentioned the previous comments online and talked about the communication with Director Guo: "There are many rumors on the Internet, but that is not true. Director Guo is so strict, which further shows that he has requirements for our young players and can promote our progress. What's more important is that everyone should be united at this time."

With such thoughts and attitudes, Wang Junjie is still very exciting in the subsequent knockout matches.

The Chinese men's basketball team will play this quarter-of-season knockout match on August 14, and the opponent will be produced among the winners in South Korea and Guam.

From Hailiang to NCAA, he did not stop challenging himself

For most domestic fans, Wang Junjie is a very unfamiliar name. He did not participate in the domestic competition in high school, but was directly selected for the national team to play in the Asian Cup. With such outstanding performance, everyone couldn't help but ask: "Where did he emerge?"

In fact, Zhejiang fans who are paying attention to "Naigao" should have long had an impression of Wang Junjie. Wang Junjie first entered the fans' horizons through his outstanding performance in Hailiang Foreign Language Middle School basketball team. In the National U15 final, Wang Junjie scored luxurious data of 31 points and 19 rebounds, helping Hai Liang win the championship and thus won the MVP title.

Wang Junjie's performance attracted the NBA Elite Program International to vote for him. In September 2019, Wang Junjie became the fifth Chinese player to enter the NBA Global Elite Program after Li Tianrong, Peng Senao, Qu Honglin and Cui Yongxi, and went to the Australian NBA Academy for training, and began his overseas campaign.

In 2023, Wang Junjie participated in the first and last "Naigao" league. In the national third place competition, Wang Junjie led Hai Liang to defeat Guangdong Experimental Middle School, the youth training team of Guangdong Men's Basketball Team, as a "super dark horse", and he scored crazy data of 27 points and 22 rebounds.

In this year, the Chinese men's basketball team led by Yang Hansen and Zhao Weilun competed in the World Youth Championship, and Wang Junjie also became the main force in the team. This strongest U19 team did not lose the advantage in dialogue with strong teams like France, Canada, Spain and even the United States. Although Wang Junjie was injured in the game against the United States, he showed his all-round strength on both offense and defense in the three games of the group stage and the qualifying match against the United States, which made everyone's eyes shine.

After helping the U19 national team to achieve the best record in the World Youth Championship in ten years, Wang Junjie went to the United States to study at the University of San Francisco, the first-tier league in the NCAA.

When facing the upcoming NCAA journey, Wang Junjie was a little nervous, but he was more expecting: "We will definitely encounter difficulties, but before in the NBA college, we were also competing with those foreign children, just to play with our own strength." Sure enough, after a season of bench, Wang Junjie was able to ensure his main rotation position at the University of San Francisco this year, which is considered to have gained a firm foothold in the team.

From NBA Academy to NCAA, Wang Junjie's overseas experience has made him show a completely different style and characteristics on the court, with an offense and defense, both conscious and attitude. Although he is still lacking in defensive experience, as he continues to grow in the national team, he should have more exciting performances.

With Yang Hansen, now with Wang Junjie, the strongest U19 young players, will be expected to become the pillar of the Chinese men's basketball team in the future.

(photo provided by FIBA official website)