published an extended 25–player main roster, that did not include two long-time players, Simas Jasaitis and Kšyštof Lavrinovič. On July 9, the shortened roster was announced, with the 12 players enrolled into training camp in Palanga beginning 11 days later. Four mainstays of the team were unable to make the list: power forward Donatas Motiejūnas and centers Darjuš Lavrinovič and Martynas Pocius due to injuries, and Linas Kleiza for exhaustion, expressing a need to rest. Lithuania began the preparation games phase by defeating Australia twice, as well as Finland and Austria once. Later the team hosted the Huawei Cup at Žalgiris Arena, being champions despite a defeat to Croatia due to wins over Turkey and Macedonia. Lithuanians also appeared again at the Acropolis Tournament, finishing third after crushing the Netherlands, while losing to host Greece and the previously defeated Turkish squad. In total, the national team achieved 7 victories of 10 during the friendly preparation matches. On September 1, the national team's final EuroBasket 2015 roster was announced. Lithuania began the European championship in Riga, on September 5, versus Ukraine. In an Arena Riga almost completely filled with their yellow-green-red decorated fans, the Lithuanians began the match easily and after the first quarter already had a solid lead (19–12), though then began a decay once Jerome Randle and Kyrylo Fesenko led to a Ukrainian resurgence. Ukraine tied the second quarter (14–14) and won the third (19–17), and almost upset the Lithuanians in the final shot if not for a Robertas Javtokas block that ensured a close Lithuanian win, 69–68. Afterwards, the match against the host Latvians had Lithuania losing the first quarter and leading by just one point by halftime. However, then Jonas Mačiulis led a shutdown of the Latvian three-pointers (only 20% during the whole game), and after two solid remaining quarters (11–20, 10–19) the Lithuanians achieved a 68–49 win. The next day, Lithuania surprisingly lost to the Belgium national team 74–76, despite Mantas Kalnietis achieving a EuroBasket record of assists with 13, and Jonas Valančiūnas also delivering a solid performance (25 points, 12 rebounds). The game was closed on a controversial play, as Belgian Matt Lojeski tipped the ball in with just bits of a second remaining and the referees had to analyze if the scoring was still made on time. After the game, many Lithuanian players argued that time was already expired, even if they were unable