The group was composed of China, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece, Puerto Rico, wild card Russia and host country Turkey.
Nikolaos Zisis and Ioannis Bourousis each scored 21 for the short-handed Greeks, which were without the services of Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis because of their two-game suspension for their roles in an exhibition match brawl against Serbia.
Overmatched Côte d'Ivoire, making its first appearance in the World Championship since 1986, fell behind 14–0 to start the game and never mounted a challenge against the hosts.
[5] Spanouilis scored a game-high 28 points for the Greeks, including a key 8-for-8 free throw shooting in the last three minutes of the game.
Sun Yue hit a three-pointer in the fourth quarter to cut Puerto Rico's lead to 67–64, but China could come no closer in the eight-point loss.
Ankara Arena was filled to capacity long before tip-off as Turkey and Greece renewed their traditional rivalry in the final game of the night.
[9] Greece was back at full strength as Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Antonis Fotsis returned to action for the Greeks following their two-game suspensions.
Schortsanitis was a non-factor in his return, seeing only 13 minutes of action because of foul trouble, and the Greeks were unable to contain Turkey's big men as Ersan İlyasova, Ömer Aşık, and Semih Erden scored a combined 48 points.
Heading into day 4 of group play, Russia, Greece, and Turkey each had a chance to clinch a knockout round spot with a win.
The day's previous results meant that Turkey already qualified for the knockout phase; a win over Puerto Rico, however, would clinch first place in the group.
Puerto Rico fell behind by as many as 13 in the second quarter but came back to lead briefly in the fourth, before finally losing to Côte d'Ivoire 88–79.
With Côte d'Ivoire leading, both teams traded baskets in a back-and-forth final minute in a frantic attempt to win the goal average tiebreaker.
Côte d'Ivoire had opened a 12-point lead, which was one point shy of seeing them through to the knockout round, before David Huertas hit a three in the closing seconds to make the final margin nine and send both teams home.
In the battle for second place, Russia used a 27–6 run late in the third quarter to turn a one-point deficit into a twenty-point lead en route to a 73–69 victory over Greece.