20 October, 2020
09 May, 2021
Darius Thompson (BRIN)
17/11/2020
News
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Week 5 Wednesday games preview

MIES (Switzerland) - Wednesday is the last day of action in the Basketball Champions League Regular Season until December, and truth is the four-game slate will definitely leave us asking for more when the 2020-21 BCL season resumes after the November window for the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers.

Week 5 Wednesday games include two potentially pivotal clashes in Group B, and we'll also find out if the reigning champions can get off the mark in this season's BCL against one of the most in-form teams in Europe right now. Let's have a closer look at all four Wednesday contests:

Tofas Bursa (1-1) vs. JDA Dijon (2-0) -- Group B, 18:00 CET

  • Tofas are coming off a 99-82 win over Ormanspor in Turkish BSL league action on Saturday, behind another stellar display by DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, who had 25 points.

  • On the same day meanwhile, Dijon saw their five-game win streak in the French Jeep Elite league snap, as they fell 70-62 at Monaco.

  • David Holston, who has been sidelined through injury for the past week, is likely to return to action for Dijon in Wednesday's game.

  • Tofas were trailing at halftime in both of their BCL games so far. The Turkish team ended up losing 96-93 to ERA Nymburk in their home debut, after defeating Keravnos 84-74 on the road in their opener in the competition.

  • Dijon will face a third different Turkish opponent in the BCL and have a 3-0 record against teams from that country after defeating Besiktas (twice) and Turk Telekom. Dijon's 33-point win against Besiktas in the 2019-20 Regular Season by a 33-point margin is the largest win by a foreign team in Turkey in BCL history.

  • Tofas Bursa were the league's joint leaders in steals prior to Tuesday night's games, as the Turkish team and Greek side Peristeri are averaging 11 steals per game after their first two games of the season.

  • Dijon allow opponents to score only 22 points in the paint per game, a league-best so far this season.

  • DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell of Tofas is the only player to have posted a stat line of at least 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals in more than one game so far this season. The Turkish team's swingman needs to score 10 or more points in Wednesday's game to join D.J. Kennedy and Vladimir Dragicevic as the only players in BCL history to have scored in double-digits in 17 straight games.


ERA Nymburk (1-1) vs. Keravnos (0-2) -- Group B, 18:30 CET

 

  • Nymburk suffered a very rare defeat in the Czech league on Sunday, as they fell 88-72 at USK Prague despite an 18-point effort from Omar Prewitt.

  • Keravnos are also coming off a road loss on the domestic front, after losing 69-64 to Paralimni in Cypriot league action on Saturday.

  • Nymburk won three of the last four BCL Regular Season games in which they were trailing at the start of the fourth quarter. The Czech team had pulled off that feat only once in the previous 17 games in which they were trailing at the start of the final frame.

  • Keravnos, who are making their BCL debut this season, have lost both of their games so far, against JDA Dijon and Tofas Bursa, despite leading at halftime in both games.

  • Nymburk are giving up a league-high (worse) 42.5 rebounds per game to opponents so far this season.

  • Keravnos have been on the receiving end of 6.5 blocked shots per game, more than any other team.

  • Nymburk's Hayden Dalton had at least 10 points and 9 rebounds in three of his last four BCL games, after posting such stats in only one of his first 15 games in the competition.

  • Keravnos have had three different players - Ahmaad Rorie, Brandon Rozzell and Jess Hunt - scoring more than 20 points in a single game, an occurrence so rare in the first two games of the season that JDA Dijon and SIG Strasbourg were the only other two teams to show this kind of offensive plurality.


Hereda San Pablo Burgos (0-1) vs. Happy Casa Brindisi (1-0) -- Group H, 18:30 CET

  • Burgos climbed to 7-3 in the Spanish Liga Endesa standings on Sunday after picking up a comfy 91-71 win against Estudiantes at home, behind 20 points and 7 rebounds from Jasiel Rivero.

  • Brindisi meanwhile maintain second place in the Italian Serie A standings after improving to 7-1 on an impressive 100-87 victory at fellow BCL participants Dinamo Sassari. D'Angelo Harrison paced Brindisi with 24 points while James Bell posted 17 points and 10 rebounds.

  • Burgos are facing their second Italian opponent in the BCL, after winning both games against Dinamo Sassari in the Round of 16 in the 2019-20 season.

  • The reigning BCL champions have a 7-1 record at home in the competition, while Brindisi have a 0-7 record on the road and gave up more than 90 points in each of the last six.

  • The Burgos bench is averaging a league-high 43.7 points per game (Regular Season games only) since the beginning of the 2019-20 season.

  • Brindisi on the other hand are second from bottom in bench scoring during the same time period, as their second unit is averaging only 24.6 point per game - Turk Telekom are bottom of this list, with their bench contributing only 22.8 points per game.

  • Omar Cook of Burgos is the only player in BCL history to have gone scoreless in as many as five games in which he played more than 20 minutes. However, the veteran point guard is averaging 7.1 assists per game in his BCL career, second only to Marcelinho Huertas (who is averaging 7.7 assists per game) among players who have played at least 15 games in the competition.

  • Riccardo Visconti of Brindisi scored a BCL career-high 20 points and brought down 6 rebounds off the bench in the opener against Darussafaka Tekfen. The last player to get 20 or more points and 5 or more rebounds off the bench in consecutive BCL games was Damian Kulig, in January 2018.


Bakken Bears (0-2) vs. Dinamo Sassari (2-0) -- Group A, 20:00 CET

  • Sassari will be without Sasa Pusica, who has suffered a season-ending injury. His replacement, Toni Katic, will be making his BCL debut with the Italian team in Wednesday's game.

  • Bakken are coming off a 96-87 win over Svendborg at home on Saturday, behind Tylor Ongwae's 20 points, and remain in the top spot in the Danish league standings.

  • Sassari, on the other hand, succumbed to a 100-87 loss at home to fellow BCL side Happy Casa Brindisi in Italian league action on Sunday, despite big man Miro Bilan erupting for a game-high 29 points and adding 7 boards.

  • Bakken have played 15 games so far in the BCL, and in every single one of them the team that was leading at halftime ended up winning the game. The Bears have a 1-14 all-time record in the competition.

  • Sassari have a 6-2 record in their last eight road games in the Regular Season and their last five games on the road were decided by a margin of six points or less (the Italian team won four and lost one of those contests).

  • Prior to Tuesday night's games, Sassari were leading the league in offensive rebounds with 17 per game after the first two contests, while Bakken Bears were bottom of the list in defensive rebounds, averaging only 18 per game.

  • Q. J. Peterson of Bakken Bears is one of three players to have scored more than 20 points in multiple BCL games this season, alongside C. J. Harris of Hapoel Holon and TaShawn Thomas of Hapoel Jerusalem.

  • Peterson, who is 14 of 14 from the free-throw line, and Harris (who was 16 of 16 up until Tuesday) were the only players with more than 10 attempted free-throws this season to shoot 100 percent from the stripe prior to Tuesday's games.

  • Marco Spissu of Sassari is leading the league in assists this season, with 11.5 per game. The Italian point guard had at least 8 assists in each of his two games in 2020-21, as many times as in his previous two seasons in the competitions combined (two games of 8 or more assists in 30 games).