The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team will kick off Window 4 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers on home soil. They will take on Argentina on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 10:30 p.m. ET at Victoria Memorial Arena in Victoria, British Columbia.

BOX SCORE

Where the Senior Men’s National Team stands as the Second Round of qualifiers begins: The Canadian Senior Men’s National Team comes into this next phase of qualifiers as the lone undefeated team in the Americas. They enter Thursday’s match up with a perfect 6-0 record and boast a 33-point margin of victory in those wins.

How the Second Round will work: Thursday’s game will open Canada's fourth qualification window as well as kick off the Second Round of qualifiers. In the Second Round, each team will play both home and away against the three new teams in their group over three different windows of play. The Second Round window periods are in August 2022, November 2022 and February 2023 with each team playing two games per window. After these three windows in the Second Round are complete, the top three teams in each group, plus the fourth best team, will go on to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Canada’s competitors: Canada will face Argentina and Panama in the August 2022 phase of the Second Round. They will take on Argentina on home soil in British Columbia on Thursday and then face Panama in Panama on Monday. In the Second Round, Canada is in Group E along with Argentina, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela. In the Nov. 2022 window, Canada will face Venezuela and Panama and in the Feb. 2023 window they will close out the Second Round by facing Argentina and Venezuela.

Top of the standings: While Canada opens Second Round play as the lone undefeated time in the Americas, Argentina enters Thursday’s matchup as the third-placed team in Group E with a 5-1 record. Nicholas Brussino led the way with 24 points in his most recent game with Argentina in the World Cup Qualifiers, and he has connected from deep in three of his four games played with Argentina in the qualifiers. Olynyk has played in five of Canada’s six qualification games thus far and has averaged 15.2 points and 9.8 rebounds in those games.

Points on the board: Canada is averaging 92.7 points in their games played on home soil. This is the highest scoring average of any team in the Americas in the history of World Cup Qualifiers. Most recently, Canada defeated the U.S. Virgin Islands 113-67 and the Dominican Republic 95-75 in the July 2022 window to close out the First Round of qualifiers. In those two victories, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Dominican Republic, as well as 24 points on 11-for-13 field goals in 19 minutes of playing time against the U.S. Virgin Islands. Kassius Robertson also had 24 points in that game as he connected on eight three-pointers. Canada leads all teams in the Americas in shooting from deep, connecting on 43.6 percent of their three-point attempts.

Where to watch: Fans in Canada can catch Team Canada in action live on Sportsnet at 10:30 p.m. ET, 7:30 p.m. PT.