Months of grueling training now come down to this: The Japan National Team wraps up its FIBA World Championship preparations with an exhibition game Sunday against Senegal.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at Urayasu Municipal Gymnasium, Chiba Prefecture.

Then the team travels to Hiroshima for the 24-team world tournament, which starts on Aug. 19. Japan is part of Group B, which also includes Angola, Germany, Panama, New Zealand and Spain. (Japan faces Germany on the tourney's opening day.)

But before the global extravaganza commences, Japan has one more tuneup game, a valuable opportunity that won't be wasted.

"I think the game against Senegal will certainly be a good game to get used to the pace of the world championship," Japan coach Zeljko Pavlicevic said Tuesday.

"Not only basketball, but soccer or whatever, the last game before the finals will be very important."

This Senegalese squad is no stranger to success.

It earned the runnerup spot at last summer's FIBA Africa Championship, but the team's stability was rattled when head coach Abdou N'Diaye was fired in mid-July.

According to an article posted on FIBA's Web site, N'Diaye's dismissal was a result of his "abandoning his position" following his Achilles tendon injury in the spring.

Senegal is now coached by Moustaphe Gaye, a man without wild predictions for his squad.

"We are a little country which tries to do its best with little experience," Gaye recently told reporters in Dakar, Senegal's capital city.

"We don't have any set objective for the FIBA World Championship, but on the eve of the tournament we must be a team capable of representing Senegal with dignity."

Senegal has played inconsistently in recent games, having topped Lithuania 75-74 at the Strasbourg international tournament in France on July 23. That win came after back-to-back defeats to France (95-58) and China (57-53) in the same tourney.

NBA players Pape Saw and Boniface N'Dong of the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively, missed the tourney because of injuries. Another NBA player, Dallas' Desagana Diop, also didn't participate.

Even if Saw, N'Dong and Diop don't play Sunday, Pavlicevic knows his team will face a quality foe.

"They are really very good jumpers and very good rebounders -- very quick reaction and anticipation," he said, adding that Senegal's athleticism is strikingly similar to what his team will see when it faces Angola on Aug. 20.

"Senegal is a very good team, but we can beat them," Pavlicevic said.

So what'll it take to beat Senegal?

"Rebounding will be a key because Senegal is such a (tall) team," Pavlicevic said. "We don't have height, but we have to find another way (to beat teams)."

Which means the team is expected to continue to do what it did at Tuesday's practice -- run, run and run some more.

Exhibit A: In a continuous sequence of drills, players worked on doing everything at full speed, including two-man fast breaks run in a steady line from end to end and back, hard-fought, 1-on-1 full-court drills and the non-stop movement of 5-on-5 ball.

"We have to play in our own rhythm," Pavlicevic observed.

GETTING READY: Asked if his team has pre-world championship jitters, Pavlicevic's answer revealed a lot about his players.

"We have been fighting with the nerves since last July, so it won't be a problem," he said.

After Sunday's game the focus changes.

"Starting next week, we will increase concentration for the finals," Pavlicevic said.

To help reach this goal, the coaching staff has insisted players curtail their cell phone usage to a bare minimum. This so-called cutoff time is intended to limit outside distractions.

IN THE PAINT: Germany and Spain are the favorites to win Group B. The top four teams in each of the four groups advance to the second round in Saitama. . . . In its last game, Japan beat Iran 72-62 in the final of the three-game Kirin Cup on July 22. Tomoo Amino had a game-high 27 points. Japan and Iran split the previous two games, with the hosts winning the opener. . . . Center Satoru Furuta turned 35 on Aug. 3. Shooting guard Takehiko Orimo, 36, is the team's oldest player, while fellow guard Takuya Kawamura, 20, is the youngest. . . . The Japan Times' world championship preview package will appear in the Aug. 17 edition.

Freelance writer Kaz Nagatsuka contributed to this report.