BARCELONA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Lithuania take on a familiar opponent in the shape of Turkey as two 2010 FIBA World Championship medallists clash in the first Quarter-Final of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup on Tuesday.

But Lithuania head coach Jonas Kazlauskas acknowledges that this "familiarity" works both ways.

"The Lithuanian national team has played Turkey so many times in European competitions," he said.

We know Turkey very well. But so do they - Kazlauskas

"A lot of the players on both sides have played against or with each other in club basketball as well. We are surely more familiar with Turkey than with Australia (who lost to Turkey in the Round of 16).

"But that also means they are familiar with us and our players. So it works both ways."

Looking ahead to the game, the veteran coach is optimistic but has some cause for concern.

"As a team we are improving with every game. But we have a lot of problems with injuries," he explained.

"If you ask if we are going step by step, yes we are improving. But even in the last game we had two injuries. We began very well, but we lost concentration. But somehow we managed to pull it off," he said of Lithuania holding off New Zealand in the Round of 16.

"But this is the (2014 FIBA Basketball) World Cup. So it's normal that with every round the opponents only get tougher."

FIBA