Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis says his team need to find their identity - and quickly - after copping a shock 90-70 loss to Canada at Perth's RAC Arena on Friday night.
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Australia were hot favourites to wipe the floor against a third-string Canada outfit, but their horrible shooting from long range proved costly.
The Boomers nailed just six of 34 three-point attempts, with specialist Joe Ingles hitting just one of six.
Australia have precious little time to fix their problem areas ahead of their World Cup opener against Canada in China on September 1.
The Boomers take on Canada again in Perth on Saturday night, before facing off against the US in two games in Melbourne.
Lemanis wasn't panicking after the heavy defeat to Canada, but he says the result highlighted some areas that needed urgent fixing.
"I think this is a nice reminder for us about the intensity level of international basketball. I think it was evident," Lemanis said.
"That was our first time playing together. There's things to be fixed and learnings to be had.
"Defensively just finding our groove of who we're going to be, how intense we're going to be.
"And offensively, who are we? What's our identity? What suits us best?
"We shot 34 threes at 16 per cent and took six foul shots. Is that what's going to get it done for us? Do we need to get more penetration inside?
"I've been around this for a long time, and my experience is that the first time we play, this has happened to us a lot.
"It's important we don't lose our minds. The most important date for us is September 1."
Aron Baynes was rested from Friday's game, but will suit up on Saturday.
Andrew Bogut, who tallied 10 points and 13 rebounds, could be rested for the re-match.
Lemanis said the short turnaround between games was perfect given the team's desire to atone.
"This eats away at you for sure, and the ability to put it right tomorrow - it's good we get to do that pretty quickly," he said.
Canada coach Nick Nurse was thrilled with the win, but he wasn't getting carried away by the result.
"I think it's kind of a little bit like play-off basketball," he said.
"There's one team that loses and they get pissed off a little bit and they come out and fire away, and it gets more physical and there's more full-course pressure.
"For me I'm glad, I hope they do. We need to see some more pressure and physicality to see how we respond to it."
Australian Associated Press
