5×5 preview: Belgium takes on Spain; Australia faces Serbia

The women’s 5×5 basketball quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics open with a matchup between Serbia and Australia. Later, Belgium looks to build on previous international success against a veteran Spain team.

The women’s basketball quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics will begin this Wednesday, Aug. 7, when Serbia (Group A) takes on Australia (Group C) at 5:00 a.m. ET. Shortly thereafter, Spain (Group A) will play Belgium (Group C) at 8:30 a.m. ET. Both quarterfinal games will be streamed live via NBC Peacock.

The Olympic quarterfinals begin after a brief group (or “pool”) phase in which each team played its respective group opponents once. Team records in the pool phase determine quarterfinal seeding; of the 12 teams participating in the pool phase, eight advance to the quarterfinals, with the quarterfinal draw emphasizing that each team will play an opponent they had not already faced in pool play, according to the FIBA competition system. Given that each team only plays three games apiece in the pool phase, their records (and thus, quarterfinal seeding) may not be entirely indicative of their level of talent.

Additionally, the quarterfinals are single-elimination games, meaning that the winning teams advance to the semifinals while the losing teams are done for the rest of the Olympics. As with the rest of the Olympics as a whole, teams must bring their best, and there’s no margin for error in front of their worldwide audience.

Serbia vs. Australia

5:00 a.m. ET; winner plays either Nigeria or the United States

Australia has had one of the strongest national programs in the world since the turn of the century, but they’re coming off a disappointing performance in 2020, when they won just one game in the Tokyo Olympics and were bounced in the first round of the quarterfinals by the United States. They’ve been better thus far in Paris, and while the Aussies still don’t look quite like the powerhouses they were in the early 2000s, they’ve gotten enough contributions from veterans such as Sami Whitcomb, Tess Madgen and Cayla George to supplant young stars Ezi Magbegor, Alanna Smith and Jade Melbourne as they enter their athletic primes.

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The lack of a go-to star hurt Australia in their opening loss to Nigeria, but team efforts against Canada and France later in pool play secured their ticket to the quarterfinals. Neither win was overwhelming, but Australia has proven that it can beat opponents in numerous ways and with numerous standout players; take the combo guard play of Whitcomb (19 points and 10 assists vs. Canada) for example, or the jack-of-all-trades skillset of Steph Talbot (seven points, six rebounds and five assists vs. France).

Whereas Australia is looking for a bounce-back effort from the previous Summer Olympics, Serbia will be looking to build upon what they previously accomplished. With a third-place (bronze medal) finish in Rio in 2016 and a fourth-place finish in Tokyo in 2020, Serbia’s national program is on the rise, and they’ve been impressive in Paris, too, going 2-1 in pool play with the highest cumulative point differential (+17) in Group A.

Much of that point differential comes from a massive 22-point win Serbia earned against China, and despite dropping a close game to Group A winners Spain, Serbia looks to have momentum on their side entering the quarterfinals. They have one of the competition’s top playmakers in Yvonne Anderson (13.3 points and seven assists per game) and three of their players averaged at least two steals per contest in pool play. They also allowed the fewest points per game (61.3) of any country during the competition’s initial phase.

Spain vs. Belgium

8:30 a.m. ET; winner plays either Germany or France

Judging solely by pool play record, Spain is one of the top teams remaining in the competition, entering the quarterfinals with a perfect 3-0 mark. None of their wins were blowouts—they defeated both China and Puerto Rico by one point and Serbia by eight—but they boast one of the most talented guard/big duos in Leonor Rodriguez and Megan Gustafson, who are averaging 15.7 and 17 points per game, respectively. Gustafson, in particular, has been magnificent, shooting 61.1 percent from the field while also chipping in 10 rebounds per game.

Spain will need every bit of that and more against Belgium, who may have the most misleading pool play statistics of any team in the quarterfinals. Belgium went 1-2 against Group C opponents, with losses to Germany and the United States, but remains an incredibly dangerous team when they’re rolling, as Japan learned in a 27-point drubbing that ultimately allowed them to sneak into the quarterfinals.

Taking center stage for Belgium is international superstar Emma Meesseman, who brings a wealth of skill and experience to the country’s frontcourt. Meesseman recorded perhaps the most impressive stat line of any player in pool play against Japan, racking up 30 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and five blocks; she was joined in double-figure scoring by Elise Ramette, Antonia Delaere and Maxuella Lisowa-Mbaka in a dominant Belgian victory.

Needless to say, it’s the best Belgium has ever looked at the Olympics, having only qualified for the competition once before in 2020. Spain, on the other hand, has much more history on their side, though one could also argue that they’ll be under pressure to return to the form that earned them a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics after underachieving in Tokyo in 2020. Regardless of the outcome, the individual matchup of Meesseman vs. Gustafson is sure to be a good one, and there’s more than enough complementary talent on either side to deliver an instant classic.