By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
London’s Gabe Olaseni and Paris’ TJ Shorts representing two very interesting up-and-coming teams are sharing this week’s MVP award in the BKT EuroCup
Per the press release: Two veterans in their first BKT EuroCup seasons, Gabe Olaseni of London Lions and TJ Shorts of Paris Basketball, showcased dominant performances to lead their teams to away victories and, with performance index ratings of 32 apiece, become co-MVPs for Round 10. Olaseni led London to a 91-95 road win at Umana Reyer Venice, while Shorts paced Paris to a blowout 79-110 win at Wolves Vilnius.
The London big man scored 23 points, making 8 of 12 two-pointers and 7 of 11 free throws, and pulled down 12 rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Olaseni had 5 offensive boards, dished 2 assists, made 1 steal and drew 7 fouls. This is the first such award for Olaseni, but third this season and second consecutively for London.
Shorts poured in 24 points for Paris on 7-for-12 two-point, 2-for-4 three-point and 4-for-6 free-throw shooting. He dished a personal-best 11 assists, and also had a steal and 7 drawn fouls, earning him his second MVP nod of the season.
The next-best PIR, 27, belonged to both Prometey Slobozhanske center Ondrej Balvin and Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul guard Jonah Mathews. In an 83-97 road win over Veolia Towers Hamburg, Balvin was busy collecting 15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks in 22 minutes on the floor. Mathews had 28 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in an 81-85 home loss against Joventut Badalona.
Rounding out the list of this week’s top performances are Joventut’s Andres Feliz and Slask Wroclaw center Dusan Miletic, each with a 26 PIR. Feliz had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals against Besiktas, while Miletic collected 20 points, 5 rebounds in a 63-72 home loss against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse.
Individual highs: Karlo Matkovic, Cedevita Olimpija, 5 blocks
Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul guard Jonah Mathews led all scorers in Round 10 with 28 points. Gediminas Orelik of 7-bet Lietkabelis Panevezys is EuroCup’s scoring leader this season with 18.8 points per game.
Trevion Williams of ratiopharm Ulm had 16 rebounds, more than any other player this round. Williams leads all EuroCup rebounders with 11.8 per game.
TJ Shorts of Paris Basketball had 11 assists, the most in Round 10, and improved his average to 7.6 assists, behind only Klemen Prepelic, who played six games with Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and averaged 8.7 assists per game.
Umana Reyer Venice guard Marco Spissu led all players this week with 4 steals. Isiaha Mike of Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse tops the steals charts with 2.3 per game.
Karlo Matkovic of Cedevita had 5 blocks, the most in Round 10. Matkovic is the new shot-blocking leader this season, with 2.2 per game.
There were three double-double this round: Olaseni (23 points, 12 rebounds), Shorts (24 points, 11 assists) and Williams (15 points, 16 rebounds).