By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Nizhny Novgorod joined the Basketball Champions League in 2017 although they failed to get past the second qualifying round that year. They made a big step further last season by not only qualifying for the regular season but reaching the quarterfinals.
Interestingly, both times they got eliminated it was against Telenet Giants Antwerp who won third place in the 2018-19 BCL campaign. Nizhny seems on the same pace this year as they hold a 6-3 record in Group C together with Peristeri winmasters (6-3) while Brose Bamberg (4-5) is on the chase to ruin their plans.
However, Nizhny is in a pretty good spot as not only is it in front of Peristeri and Brose but also holds the tiebreaker advantage against the latter and will play their rematch against Peristeri on Gameday 11 at home (won the first game 74-71).
Oh, and the good news is also that, this time around, there’s little to no chance that they will meet Antwerp as the Belgian squad stands at a 2-7 record in Group B, at the very least three wins behind the playoff spot. Not that it would matter much to the Russian team which showed lots of character this year, breaking the odds and bouncing back from tough spots multiple times.