20 October, 2020
09 May, 2021
3 R. J. Hunter (GALA)
14/12/2020
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Week 7 Tuesday games preview

MIES (Switzerland) - Tuesday marks the first day of reckoning in the 2020-21 Basketball Champions League Regular Season as four teams - one in each game of the day - find themselves in a must-win situation.

Galatasaray in Group A, Keravnos in Group B and Cholet with Holon in Group C need to win on Tuesday in order to continue depending from themselves in the race for a spot in the Play-Offs.

By stark contrast, Tenerife, AEK and Tsmoki Minsk  could find themselves in possession of a ticket to the next stage if results go their way.

Here's a closer look at the four Tuesday encounters:

Galatasaray (1-2) vs. Iberostar Tenerife (2-1) -- Group A, 18:00 CET

Giorgi Shermadini was pronounced Gameday 14 MVP in the Spanish Liga Endesa over the weekend

  • Tenerife will secure their passage to the Play-Offs if they win this game and Dinamo Sassari beat Bakken Bears on Wednesday.

  • By contrast, Galatasaray will drop out of the race for a spot in the next stage if they lose this game and Dinamo Sassari beat Bakken Bears on Wednesday.

  • Galatasaray guard Baris Ermis, who missed the reverse fixture in Tenerife due to injury, is back in action and expected to play on Tuesday, but Alex Hamilton has not yet returned to action and his participation is doubtful.

  • Galatasaray suffered a 97-80 defeat at Afyon in Turkish BSL league action on Saturday, despite a 19-point, 7-rebound display by Alex Tyus and 14 points from Brock Motum.

  • Tenerife on the other hand are coming off an 84-79 win over Hereda San Pablo Burgos at home, improving to 12-1 in the Spanish Liga Endesa standings as they continue to enjoy their best start ever to a domestic league season. Giorgi Shermadini paced Tenerife with 21 points and 6 rebounds and was named Gameday 14 MVP in the Spanish league.

  • Tenerife defeated Galatasaray 85-72 in the reverse fixture in Spain, behind Sasu Salin's BCL career-high 21 points. The Finnish international has never scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games in his 20 appearances in the competition.

  • Tenerife have a 6-0 record against Turkish teams in the BCL. The Spanish team however lost their three most recent road games in the competition (including the loss at Sassari this season and two losses in the 2019-2020 season).

  • Tenerife give up on average 69.9 points per game on the road, which converts them to the best defensive team in road games during the five-year history of the BCL.

  • Galatasaray's R.J. Hunter, who had a team-high 20 points in the reverse fixture in Spain, is looking to score 20 points or more in back-to-back BCL games for the first time in his 14 appearances in the league.


Cholet (0-3) vs. AEK (3-0) -- Group C, 18:00 CET

Kingsley Moses (right) has rejoined former teammate Yanick Moreira (left) after signing with AEK

  • AEK will secure a spot in the Play-Offs if they win this game and Tsmoki Minsk defeat Holon in Tuesday's other Group C game.

  • Cholet will drop out of the race for a spot in the Play-Offs if they lose to AEK and Tsmoki Minsk defeat Holon in Tuesday's other Group C game.

  • AEK have signed Kingsley Moses, who started the season at RETAbet Bilbao, but are still without the sidelined through injury Marcus Slaughter.

  • Cholet were last in action on Saturday and defeated JDA Dijon 83-73 at home for the French Jeep Elite league, as Gerry Blakes led the way with his 24 points on 4 of 6 three-point shooting.

  • AEK were also in domestic action on Saturday and prolonged their perfect start to the Greek Basket League with a 79-72 win at Iraklis Thessaloniki, behind 18 points from Jonas Maciulis.

  • Cholet, who are debuting in the BCL this season, will try to avoid becoming the first French club to lose their first four games in the competition.

  • AEK have won nine of their last 10 BCL games, with the only defeat in that span coming against Hereda San Pablo Burgos in the 2020 Final. The Greek team are playing their first road game in the BCL this season.

  • AEK are leading the league in points per possession and in assists ratio so far this season. The Athens team are scoring 1.36 points per possession and have an assists ratio of 24.3 percent.

  • Gerry Blakes had at least 14 points and 4 assists in each of his three appearances with Cholet in the BCL, making at least two triples in each game.

  • Yanick Moreira scored a BCL career-high 21 points in the reverse fixture. The AEK big man, who has also played for PAOK, Virtus Bologna and Peristeri, is now one of four players to have scored 20 or more points in a BCL game with three different teams. William Hatcher, Thaddus McFadden and Michael Dixon are the other three.

Keravnos (0-3) vs. ERA Nymburk (2-1) -- Group B, 18:30 CET

Keravnos need Brandon Rozzell to come up with a performance similar to the one he had in the reverse fixture

  • Keravnos will drop out of contention for a top-two finish in the group if they lose.

  • Keravnos, who are yet to taste victory in their maiden season in the BCL, suffered their heaviest defeat in the competition in the reverse fixture, as Nymburk prevailed 96-69 in the Czech Republic.

  • Keravnos are coming off a comfy 90-65 win at home over Omonoia in Cypriot league action on Saturday, behind a 22-point, 7-rebound, 6-assist display by Ahmaad Rorie.

  • Likewise, Nymburk defeated Olomouc 99-73 at home on Saturday in the Czech league, as Vojtech Hruban finished with 22 points and 7 assists.

  • Nymburk have won seven of the last eight BCL games on the road in which they scored 80 or more points. By contrast, the Czech champions have lost seven of the last nine road games in which they scored fewer than 80 points.

  • Nymburk are currently joint leaders in rebounds in this season's BCL, averaging 41 rebounds per game.

  • The Czech team also commit the fewest fouls (14 per game on average) and conceded fewer free-throws (6.3 per game on average) than any other team in the league this season.

  • Brandon Rozzell had a team-high 15 points in the reverse fixture and is the only Keravnos player to have scored 15 or more points in more than one game in the Cypriot team's debut season in the league.

  • Nymburk's Retin Obasohan is in such great form that he is averaging 20 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2.5 steals in his last two BCL appearances, after averaging 7 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 0.8 steals per game in his previous 28 appearances in the league.


Tsmoki Minsk (2-1) vs. Hapoel Holon (1-2) -- Group C, 18:30 CET

Holon's Isaiah Miles is averaging 17.5 points on 64 percent shooting from beyond the arc over the last two BCL games

  • Minsk will secure a place in the Play-Offs if they win this game and AEK defeat Cholet in the other Tuesday game in the group.

  • By contrast, Holon will drop out of the race for a spot in the next stage if they lose this game and AEK defeat Cholet in the other Tuesday game in the group.

  • Minsk are coming off a 78-65 loss at Parma in VTB United League action on Saturday, despite 14 points from Robert Lowry.

  • Holon by contrast on Saturday clinched an 89-86 win at Beer Sheva in Israeli Winner league action, behind 27 points and 8 rebounds from Chris Johnson.

  • Minsk defeated Holon 79-69 in the reverse fixture in Israel, after Toms Leimanis went off for a BCL career-high 20 points. Holon have since added Belgian international Maxime De Zeeuw to their roster.

  • Holon have lost four of their last five road games in the BCL including their most recent (100-96 at AEK).

  • Holon are second in the league (behind Rytas Vilnius) in made free-throws, averaging 19.7 per game, but in the other hand they are averaging a league-low 24.7 made field goals per game.

  • Maksim Salash of Minsk averaged 18 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in the two BCL games he was in the starting five, but his only double-double in the competition so far, 13 points and 11 rebounds, came in the reverse fixture in Israel which was the only game he came off the bench.

  • Holon's Isaiah Miles averaged 17.5 points per game in his last two BCL appearances, converting 64.3 percent (9 of 14) of his three-point attempts.