EUROBASKET QUALIFIERS

Serbia head coach Dusan Ivkovic knows there is still room to grow for his young squad

Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic is never completely satisfied with his team's victories.

He is ever the perfectionist.

The veteran tactician saw errors creep into his team's play in their 80-75 win over Slovenia on Sunday.

The triumph gave Serbia a 3-0 finish and first place in the Adecco Cup, but Ivkovic said: "We made mistakes at the end of the game.

"We had five turnovers in the last two minutes.

"This is something which a young team has to go through, though. It has to get used to playing against aggressive defense."

What Ivkovic has seen with some new and young faces in the squad are growing pains.

"After playing seven games, it's evident that we have a lot of ups and downs which is characteristic for a team with a lot of debutants," he said.

The important games are coming up.

In the EuroBasket Qualification Round, Serbia will compete against Montenegro, Israel, the Slovak Republic, Estonia and Iceland.

The top two sides in each of the six groups will qualify for the EuroBasket in Slovenia, as well as the four best third-place teams.

Serbia's first game is at Iceland on 14 August.

"We have more work to do and little time to do it," Ivkovic said.

The Serbians are now preparing for another warm-up event, the Trophy of Belgrade.

They will play Hungary on Wednesday, before facing either Slovenia or Turkey on Thursday.