Game of the Week: Aris brace for Banvit
THESSALONIKI (Basketball Champions League) - A battle of unbeaten teams in the Basketball Champions League takes center stage in Gameday 4 of the competition when Aris square off against red-hot Banvit.
Playing on Wednesday, just a couple of days after hosting Olympiacos in a Greek domestic encounter, Aris will try to extend their perfect start in Europe that has already seen them win on the road at Helios Suns in their opener, then at home against Bakken Bears and finally last week at Ironi Nahariya.
👉 @mjjenk paced @ARISBCgr 🇬🇷 with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals #BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/LTvcx5MkPs
— #BasketballCL (@BasketballCL) November 3, 2016
Banvit are likely to be their toughest opponents to date in Group A. The side coached by Sasa Filipovski has reeled off five wins in as many Turkish domestic league encounters while in Europe, it has thumped Nahariya and Fraport Skyliners on the road and CEZ Nymburk in Bandirma. The win at Fraport was particularly impressive.
Banvit are the fifth highest scoring team in the Basketball Champions League at 81.3 points per game and much of that is owed to Jordan Theodore and Gediminas Orelik.
Theodore, a FIBA Europe Cup winner with Fraport earlier this year, is joint-sixth in the competition's scoring charts at 18.3ppg. He tore apart his former club in their recent meeting by pouring in a 25 points. When the 1.83m guard isn't scoring, he's often setting up his teammates. He leads Banvit with an average of 6.3apg, which is joint-fifth best in the competition.
I'm coming for everything and everyone. So I hope y'all working hard cause I most certainly am 💪🏾
— Jordan Theodore (@Casanovaisreal) November 6, 2016
Orelik, Banvit's second leading scorer at 16.3ppg, has drilled an eye-popping 64.7 percent (11 of 17) shots from the 3-point arc in the club's three wins. His 11 made 3-pointers are the most in the Basketball Champions League.
The visitors will want to pay special attention to Aris shooting guard Michael Jenkins, who erupted for 22 points in last week's resounding triumph in Israel. Jenkins has been having some big performances on the domestic front, too.
Nothing is possible in a team sport without the cohesiveness of your TEAM! Finally got back in… https://t.co/9lnu1Zpsgh
— Michael Jenkins (@mjjenk) October 29, 2016
Jenkins was 4-of-10 from 3-point land at Nahariya and caused the opponents others problems. He finished the game with five assists and four steals, yet he also had a team-high 4 turnovers.