By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The two-week break let the squads get some rest and they’ve brought the extra energy last week. They surely have more in store and will treat the crowd with as much excitement on Day 9 of Basketball Champions League as well.
For Gameday 9, nine games are scheduled on Tuesday (18/12) and seven games on Wednesday (18/12).
Day 9 Preview
Group A
1. UCAM Murcia (7-1)
2. Sidigas Avellino (5-3)
3. Banvit (5-3)
4. Nizhny Novgorod (4-4)
5. Anwil (4-4)
6. Ventspils (3-5)
7. Le Mans (2-6)
8. MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (2-6)
Anwil and Nizhny will open the Day 9 show on Tuesday. Anwil is one of the four teams to have three players with 100+ points scored this season in BCL, while Nizhny Novgorod has no player who reached that mark. The Poland squad also has Josip Sobin in their ranks who leads the BCL center’s in assists with 25 and they come off six consecutive wins in all competitions.
Banvit will pay a visit to Le Mans which lost ten of its last 12 BCL games. A defeat against Banvit would be their 7th this season, equalling the tally of their entire previous BCL season (seven defeats in 2016/17). In their first game this season on Day 2, Banvit registered a convincing 96-67 home win.
On Wednesday, Ventspils will host Murcia and both squads are in a good form winning four out of five games in all competitions. The Spaniards will try to stay among the top 4 teams in BCL record-wise but the hosts will certainly have a say in the matter.
Lastly, Avellino will host Ludwigsburg. The Italians are going through a rough patch as they won just one out of last five games in all competitions while the German squad bounced back with a win against Crailsheim in the domestic league. However, it came with a cost as they lost Karim Jallow to an injury.
Group B
1. Iberostar Tenerife (7-1)
2. UNET Holon (6-2)
3. Umana Reyer Venezia (5-3)
4. PAOK (5-3)
5. Nanterre 92 (4-4)
6. Telekom Baskets Bonn (3-5)
7. Fribourg Olympic (1-7)
8. Opava (1-7)
Only one team has a better two-point percentage than Telekom Baskets Bonn this season (58.6%) while PAOK has scored fewer two-pointers than any other team (132). However, PAOK’s games don’t depend too much on it as they won last five – the best run after AEK’s seven.
Next up are Holon and Venezia and much will ride on the hosts’ Khalif Wyatt who scored 35 points against Umana Reyer Venezia on Gameday 2, the tie-high for a player in a BCL game this season. He is also the only player to average 20+ points this season (20.7).
Tenerife will host Nanterre. The Spaniards faced some trouble lately, however, they bounced back with two straight wins, one of them against Baskonia in the domestic league. On the other side, Nanterre’s four-game winning streak came to an end by losing to Cholet after overtime in French League.
Opava and Fribourg will close the show for Group B this week. Both squads reside at the bottom and a win here would be crucial in order to get closer to a spot which keeps them in a European competition.
Group C
1. AEK (7-1)
2. Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (6-2)
3. Brose Bamberg (5-3)
4. Telenet Giants Antwerp (4-4)
5. Lietkabelis (3-5)
6. Montakit Fuenlabrada (3-5)
7. JDA Dijon (2-6)
8. CEZ Nymburk (2-6)
Hapoel lost two straight games and both were against champions – Maccabi in Israel and AEK in BCL. They will try to bounce back against Lietkabelis on the road and literally so as they grab 15.5 offensive rebounds per game, the highest among all teams this season. Only Fribourg has scored more points from second chances than Hapoel so far.
Antwerp will host Fuenlabrada which is another team trying to recover. They lost four out of the last five games and their hopes ly with Francisco Cruz who nailed at least one triples in each of his eight appearances and averages 14.4 points.
Bamberg will go on the road to Dijon and will arrive off five straight victories in all competitions and a gamesome Tyrese Rice while Dijon lost to Monaco in the domestic league after three straight wins.
Lastly, the reigning champions AEK will try to prolong their winning streak to eight games against Nymburk. In their first game, AEK came out on top but by a bare minimum and after overtime (94-93).
Group D
1. Segafredo Virtus Bologna (7-1)
2. SIG Strasbourg (5-3)
3. Promitheas Patras (5-3)
4. medi Bayreuth (4-4)
5. Neptunas Klaipeda (4-4)
6. Besiktas Sompo Japan (3-5)
7. Filou Oostende (3-5)
8. Petrol Olimpija (1-7)
Besiktas lost two straight games in all competitions and will host Neptunas which won four straight with one being against Bologna as they handed them their first loss in BCL. Will the Turkish crowd be enough to push Besiktas past Neptunas?
Olimpija will host Promitheas and it is one of their final chances to ‘catch the last train’. They were close to a win against Strasbourg last week and were also near it in the first game against Promitheas as the Greek side just barely snatched the win 79-77. Keeping the turnovers to a minimum will be the key factor in this game for the hosts.
Bayreuth won nine games in a row in all competitions and will look to take it even further against Strasbourg. The French side bounced back from two losses with two wins and also grabbed the ‘W’ in the first game between the two.
Finally, Bologna will try to get back on the winning track by beating Oostende in Belgium. The Italians perfect streak ended on BCL Day 8 but they recovered in the domestic league and look to do the same here.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League