By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After being one of the most important players for Baskonia all throughout the EuroLeague Regular Season, Chima Moneke won’t be available in tomorrow’s do-or-die Play-In game between the Basque side and Virtus Bologna.
Being forced to leave the court with 6:35 minutes left in the second quarter during the first Play-In game against Maccabi Tel Aviv – which eventually got the 113-85 blowout win -, the Nigerian small forward twisted his left ankle and hasn’t recovered yet.
Dusko Ivanovic announced the news. “[Chima] Moneke can’t play. It will be a huge absence for us but we have never cried, we won’t do it tomorrow. We have fought the whole year to depend on ourselves and it should be a positive pressure tomorrow”, Baskonia‘s head coach commented as reported by SER Vitoria.
Joining Baskonia in the summer of 2023 after ending last year with AS Monaco, Chima Moneke has lived a stellar breakout season with 13.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He would probably recover for the latest ACB games, while he will need his team to progress to keep playing in this year’s EuroLeague.
Scheduled for tomorrow at 20:30 CET in the Fernando Buesa Arena, tomorrow’ game between Baskonia and Virtus Bologna is a rematch of this season’s Round 34, where Dusko Ivanovic’s team won 95-91 away in Italy to clinch the 8th spot. The winner of the do-or-die clash will face Real Madrid in the Playoffs.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague