By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Inching closer to the Round of 16 of the Basketball Champions League, Lenovo Tenerife picked up Ilimane Diop.
Diop, 28, signed a contract for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, the team announced on Thursday.
The native of Senegal is coming off a stint with fellow Basketball Champions League outfit Filou Oostende. He averaged 6.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per BCL contest as a member of the Belgium champions. He logged seven appearances but did not play in Game 2 of the Play-In best-of-three series versus Hapoel Holon on Tuesday. A brief spell at Unicaja with one appearance in Spain’s Liga Endesa started his 2023-24 campaign.
Seven more games played in the Champions League were combined with his spell at UCAM Murcia last season. Earlier in his career, Diop made his way to 193 appearances in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playing for Caja Laboral / Laboral Kutxa, Kirolbet / TD Systems Baskonia.
Joining forces with Txus Vidorreta, he meets the Canary Islands outfit preparing to enter Group K of the BCL Round of 16. Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, Peristeri bwin, and Pinar Karsiyaka or Rio Breogan shape the opponents in a battle to advance to the Quarterfinals. The contenders are scheduled to resume the continental campaign on January 23.
Edgar Vicedo, Jaime Fernandez, Bruno Fitipaldo, Marcelinho Huertas, Sasu Salin, Kyle Guy, Dusan Ristic, Joan Sastre, Giorgi Shermadini, Tim Abromaitis, Elgin Cook, Alex Lopez, Fran Guerra, and Aaron Doornekamp are his new teammates.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League