20 October, 2020
09 May, 2021
24 Alexander Madsen (RIGA)
25/01/2021
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Week 12 Tuesday games preview

MIES (Switzerland) - Two of the three remaining tickets to the Play-Offs will be distributed on Tuesday, as Group E and Group G come to a close.

VEF Riga and Peristeri are facing off for the privileged spot in Group E, while the ticket from Group G will end up in the hands of either Igokea or Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem.

Here's a closer look at what we should expect from Tuesday's four-game slate:

Rytas Vilnius (1-4) vs. SIG Strasbourg (4-1) -- Group E, 18:30 CET

 

  • Strasbourg have already secured first place in Group E and, of course, a spot in the Play-Offs. Rytas will finish bottom of the group even if they win the Tuesday game.

  • Giedrius Zibėnas is making on Tuesday his debut as Rytas head coach in the BCL, after replacing Donaldas Kairys at the helm on January 16.

  • Rytas are coming off an 86-78 win at Siauliai in Lithuanian league action on Saturday, behind 15 points from Keith Benson.

  • Strasbourg were last in action on January 16 and they clinched an 82-78 road win at Roanne for the French Jeep Elite league, as Bonzie Colson had 20 points and Brandon Jefferson added 17.

  • Rytas's sole win so far in the BCL is the 83-81 victory at Strasbourg in the reverse fixture, in November 2020.

  • Strasbourg are riding a three-game winning streak in the BCL since losing in the reverse fixture and are looking to win a fourth straight for the first time since January-February 2018.

  • Rytas give up 17.4 fast-break points per game, more than any other team this season.

  • Strasbourg force a league-high 18.8 turnovers per game and consequently average a league-high 21 points off turnovers per game.

  • Strasbourg's Brandon Jefferson scored a season-high 31 points in the reverse fixture but hasn’t scored in double digits in the BCL since.

VEF Riga (3-2) vs. Peristeri (2-3) -- Group E, 18:30 CET

 

  • VEF will advance to the Play-Offs if they win, or if they lose by up to 3 points. Peristeri will qualify if they win by 4 points or more.

  • VEF are coming off a 94-57 rout of Valmiera in Latvian/Estonian league action on Friday, behind a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double by Michale Kyser.

  • By contrast, Peristeri suffered an 80-65 defeat at Kolossos Rhodes in Greek league action on Saturday, despite 16 points from Tre McLean and a 14-point, 12-rebound Marvin Jones double-double.

  • Peristeri have parted ways with Steven Gray, who was leading the Greek team in scoring and efficiency rating, and the American shooting guard has joined Igokea. The Greek team's latest signing, James Woodard, is not eligible to play in Tuesday's game but they will be able to add him to their roster for the Play-Offs, should they advance to the next stage.

  • VEF won 84-81 in the reverse fixture at Peristeri, after losing both of their previous encounters with the Greek side.

  • Peristeri’s four most recent road games in the BCL ended with a point differential or 12 or more points (both wins and losses). In 2020, the Greek team gave up 84.4 points per game on the road while in 2019 they gave up 67.4 points per game on the road.

  • VEF hold opponents to 46.3 percent two-point shooting and are the best defensive team in this season's BCL in that respect.

  • VEF average 4.4 blocks per game as the second-leading team in the league behind Brose Bamberg, who lead the league in blocks with 5 per game on average.

  • Peristeri hold opponents to a league-low 9 free-throw attempts per game. The Greek team commit 16.4 fouls per game on average, the second-fewest in the league behind ERA Nymburk, who commit 16.3 fouls on average.

  • Kristers Zoriks, who is playing his first pro season after graduating from college, is VEF's second-leading scorer in the BCL as he is averaging 15 points per game on 62.2 percent field goal percentage (including 59.3 percent from behind the arc) and 92.9 percent free-throw shooting.

Turk Telekom (4-1) vs. Igokea (3-2) -- Group G, 18:30 CET

 

  • Turk Telekom have already secured a berth in the Play-Offs. Igokea will progress to the next stage if they win, or if Hapoel Jerusalem lose at Limoges.

  • Turk Telekom are coming off a 101-88 win over Bahcesehir in Turkish BSL league action on Saturday as Kyle Wiltjer stole the show by drilling a season-high 9 three-pointers, on just 13 attempts, and finished with a game-high 35 points.

  • Igokea were last in ABA Adriatic league action on January 20th and they picked up a 77-64 win over Krka Novo Mesto at home, behind 19 points from Marko Josilo.

  • Igokea defeated Turk Telekom 77-66 in the reverse fixture, inflicting on the Ankara team their sole defeat so far in this season's BCL. That was also Turk Telekom's second lowest-scoring game in the BCL, almost a year after they had scored 64 points against Dinamo Sassari in October 2019.

  • Igokea, who haven't yet won on the road in the BCL, give up 70.7 points at home and 82.0 on the road on average.

  • Steven Gray, who is leading the league in efficiency with an avergae rating of 23.5 per game and is the league's third-leading scorer with 21.3 points per game, is poised to make his debut with Igokea on Tuesday after starting the season at Peristeri.

  • Igokea hold opponents to 28 points in the paint per game and have the third-best defense in the league in that respect, behind Tofas Bursa and JDA Dijon.

  • Igokea allow opponents to attempt only 32.4 two-point shots per game and are the best defensive team in this season's BCL in that respect.

  • Turk Telekom's Nick Johnson scored 15 or more points in each of his last two BCL games and is looking to score in double digits in three consecutive Regular Season games for the first time since he debuted in the competition.

  • Anthony Clemmons leads Igokea in scoring, averaging 14.6 points and 4.6 assists per game on 54.3 percent shooting from the floor, 50 percent from three-point range and 94.1 percent from the free-throw line.

Limoges CSP (1-4) vs. Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (2-3) -- Group G, 18:30 CET

 

  • Hapoel Jerusalem will advance to the Play-Offs if they win this game and Igokea lose at Turk Telekom in the other game in the group. Limoges are out of contention for a spot in the Play-Offs.

  • Limoges were last in French Jeep Elite league action on January 15, and they fell 91-68 at Le Mans despite 16 points from Nicolas Lang.

  • Hapoel Jerusalem lost 79-73 to Maccabi Rishon in their last outing, on January 17th, despite a 26-point, 13-rebound double-double by Tashawn Thomas.

  • This will be Hapoel Jerusalem's first BCL game since Dainius Adomaitis took the reins of the team. Hapoel won 81-75 in the reverse fixture in November, with Oded Kattash as their head coach.

  • Limoges lost four games in a row in the BCL after winning their maiden game in the league (against Igokea). Nonetheless, the French team haven't lost any game by more than six points and in fact Hapoel Jerusalem are the only team to have scored 80 or more points against Limoges.

  • Hapoel Jerusalem have a 40 percent win-loss percentage in this BCL Regular Season after winning 86 percent of their Regular Season games in 2018-19 and 79 percent of their games in the 2019-20 Regular Season.

  • Hapoel Jerusalem's 2.4 assists-to-turnover ratio is the highest in the league this season. The Israeli side, who commit only 9.4 turnovers per game on average, are the only team in the league averaging fewer than 10 turnovers per game.

  • Jerry Boutsiele of Limoges is the league's leading rebounder, averaging 9.8 boards per game and had a BCL season-high (as well as BCL career-high, since this is his debut season in the competition) 12 rebounds in the reverse fixture.

  • Hapoel's TaShawn Thomas is the only player with more than 500 career points, 250 career rebounds and 50 career blocks in BCL history. Thomas is also he is the BCL all-time leader in rebounds, with 313, and in blocks, with 65. He has scored 725 career points and is the second all-time leading scorer behind ERA Nymburk's Vojtech Hruban, who has 869 points.