By Vangelis Papadimitriou/ info@eurohoops.net
Vassilis Toliopoulos has been a teammate of Vassilis Spanoulis in Olympiacos, however during his three seasons with the Reds, when he was a teenager, between 2015 and 2018, he had a very limited role.
Since then, he played for AEK, Ionikos, PAOK, and even in the French second division in Boulazac and had three different stints with Aris.
The third time proved to be a charm. Toliopoulos has already made a name for himself with his performances in the EuroCup, however, he stole the show from Panathinaikos‘ win over AEK on the first day of the Greek Cup Final8 with an amazing performance against cross-town rival PAOK.
Toliopoulos saved the day for Aris, scoring 17 of his 24 points in the last quarter, as he led his team over PAOK in a 76-74 comeback win. The game ended with Toliopoulos making the winning bucket, giving his team for the first time the lead in the game and him bursting into tears after the final buzzer, exhausted in the center of the court.
“I was under a lot of pressure throughout the game”, he said to COSMOTE TV. “I gave my soul, we gave our soul. This is the identity of the team to never give up”.
The performance of 27-year-old Toliopoulos turned heads once more among the Greek basketball community, proving that there’s still offensive talent that can help first and foremost the Greek national team.
And the way that he took over the game in the closing minutes reminded everyone of Vassilis Spanoulis, even if Toliopoulos himself downplayed the comparison: “I can’t feel like Spanoulis, he was the best player in Europe for a decade, but making clutch shots make me happier than you can imagine”.
With Panathinaikos being the next opponent of Aris in the upcoming semifinal on Saturday, Toliopoulos will have at least one more chance to shine playing against one of the top EuroLeague teams.