By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
November is a very particular month in the 2020-21 Basketball Champions League schedule because it brings about a brief break in action just as all teams have given us a first taste of their style of play this season.
Here are the five players who led their respective teams with their individual performances throughout the course of the month, as announced by championsleague.basketball:
AXEL JULIEN (November Efficiency Rating: 18)
Du noir et blanc ⚫️⚪️
au bleu, blanc, rouge ??@julienaxel5#MyJDA #Dijon #TeamFranceBasket pic.twitter.com/xmuIVJazVy— JDA Dijon Basket (@jdadijonbasket) November 25, 2020
If you need a recent demonstration of the impact that a player’s sheer determination and will to win can have on the outcome of a game, all you need to do is watch Axel Julien’s two BCL games this month.
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Dijon faced Nymburk on November 4th without David Holston, but Julien picked up the slack in the absence of his backcourt partner and orchestrated his team’s 85-61 victory behind a steely defensive display in the second half, as he finished with 11 points, 7 assists, 4 boards and 2 steals.
Two weeks later, the French point guard overcame a slow start to the game with Tofas Bursa and delivered in crunch time in regulation and in overtime, as he collected 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting from downtown and 9 assists for Dijon to escape 87-81 winners on the road and get off to a perfect 3-0 start in group B.
In that game, Julien also dished his 206th assist in the BCL to become only the ninth player in competition history to cross the 200-mark – and fittingly, Holston followed in the same path just minutes later, becoming the 10th player on that list.
KEYE VAN DER VUURST DE VRIES (November Efficiency Rating: 21)
The 18-year-old Dutch international is the only player on the team of the month to have featured in just one game during November, but what an unforgettable game it was for Keye Van Der Vuurst De Vries and his team.
On November 10th, Filou Oostende played host to reigning BCL champions Hereda San Pablo Burgos and the Belgian team rose to the challenge by delivering their best performance of the season so far to topple the Spanish team 99-98.
Despite his young age, Van Der Vuurst De Vries not only went toe-to-toe with the vastly experienced Burgos guards, but he masterminded Oostende’s high-octane offense and dished 11 assists to go with his 13 points, registering the first double-double of his BCL career.