The story so far: Utena managed to eke out an 83-81 victory in the first leg and have theoretically taken the inside lane in this tie, which leads to a berth in the Regular Season of the Basketball Champions League.

JUVENTUS UTENA vs. FC PORTO - Thursday at 18:30 CEST

UTENA (Basketball Champions League) – What powered Utena’s late surge in the first game was certainly the fact they denied to settle for a narrow defeat when they could still chase victory, but also their trust in the process.

While both sides executed their respective game plan admirably and offered us an interesting game, the Lithuanian team’s execution was that little bit more effective. It is indicative that each teams knocked down eight three-pointers on Tuesday, but it took Utena just 17 attempts while Porto took 27 shots from behind the arc. Utena are probably right to expect that they will do even better at their home court on Thursday.

Porto have a good reason to be optimistic too, though. They grabbed 16 offensive boards on Tuesday and scored 20 second-chance points off them. If they could replicate these figures on Thursday they would be fulfilling one of the main goals of every team that plays on the road.

“We have to remember this is in reality an 80-minute long game so it makes little difference if you lose the first 40 by two points or win by two,” said Porto head coach Moncho Lopez. “If we had to overturn a larger deficit it would not be the same, but we are pleased with our performance. We now have to put in more effort defensively and make it a bit harder for Utena to go to the basket.”