SHENZEN (China) - Every win and every loss. Every shot taken - made or missed; every rebound, assist and block made on the World Cup courts in China by the players of the Czech Republic this month will be written into the history of their sport as they compete in their first FIBA Basketball World Cup.

They are doing so without one of their best players, Jan Vesely, who is out due to injury but they have succeeded into the Second Round though the strength of another whose value to the team is measured in far more than the stat sheet.

To a man, his coach and teammates all say that point guard Tomas Satoransky is the leader of this squad both on and off the court.

"You see it every day on the court," said forward Jaromir Bohacik, who is leading the Czechs in scoring with 16.7 points per game. "He is the brain; he is the muscle. I don't know what else you could say about what he is to our team. He is the leader. He did a great job again today (against Turkey) so thank god that we got him."

The 27-year-old Satoransky says that his job is, "Just to lead them in any possible way."

Now headed to the Chicago Bulls after three seasons with the Washington Wizards, the 6ft 7in (2.01m) Satoransky was frank about his performance in his country's greatest win to date, a 91-76 victory over Turkey that sent them into the winner's bracket.

"I had another rough shooting night. Teams are going to get physical with me but it's not all about me, especially in FIBA basketball. I think I'm experienced enough to know where to force the shot, and where not."

For the tournament, he's averaging 14.3 points but on 38.2% shooting, much because he draws a lot of attention from opposing defenses.

"My teammates did a great job in the spacing. It's all about our team and the chemistry. It's not about my performances; I have to lead them verbally also."

To be clear, he is contributing 5 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game – he had 11 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists against Turkey and a team high 17 points and 5 assists against the world's top team, the two-time defending FIBA World Cup champions United States in their first game.

He also passes out praise like he does the ball. "A lot of players today showed up but it's not about individual players on our team," he said after the Turkey game. "It's about about everyone and I think Vojtech Hruban, Ondrej Balvin, and Patrik Auda especially had a great game and this is all about the team."

 "He started with the national team when he was 17 or 18, and I always knew that he was going to be the leader," said center Ondrej Balvin, the TCL Player of the Game against Turkey. "He's always trying to do the best for the team. He's the leader on the court and off the court and he's doing it every game."

"He's a leader. He's our leader. He's a complete player," said Blake Schilb who has benefited from Satoransky's passing to the tune of 11 points per game on a blistering 57 percent overall and even more impressive 69 percent from behind the arc. "I've known him since he was just a teenager and the amount he's grown since then, the maturity on and off the court just means so much. He's a made man now."

Satoransky is leading by example in China

Czech coach Ronen Ginzburg knows he has someone he can trust to lead the team both on and off the court.

"His contributions are amazing. He is all the time dedicated to the game. He pays attention to every detail and it's important for us that a player like this leads this team. I think he is a star as well as the glue for all the others."

The Czechs celebrated with abandon after the game and the joy from the locker room could not be restrained by the door as they looked forward to their next game and advancing even further.

"No one expected us to go to the Second Round but we knew before the championship that we had a great preparation and that we can fight against anyone," said Satoransky. "That's what we did today. The championship has already provided a lot of surprises so I think this is one of them."

"This is an amazing feeling and we want this feeling to last as much it can but obviously there is going to be a next opponent and we will have to prepare to fight like we did in this group."

FIBA