20 October, 2020
09 May, 2021
20 Eimantas Bendzius (SASS)
05/01/2021
News
to read

Week 9 Wednesday games preview

MIES (Switzerland) - The first week of Basketball Champions League action in 2021 concludes on Wednesday night with an important Group A clash, between Iberostar Tenerife and Dinamo Sassari.

The four-game slate also involves all four Group B teams and includes the Group D encounter between Lublin and Falco. Here's a closer look at all four Wednesday games in Week 9 of the Regular Season:

Tofas Bursa (1-2) vs. Keravnos (0-4) -- Group B, 18:00 CET

 

  • Tofas are coming off a 78-64 win over Turk Telekom in Turkish BSL league action on Saturday behind 18 points from new signing Tomislav Zubcic. The Croatian big man will be making his BCL debut in Tuesday's game.

  • Keravnos meanwhile enjoyed an 83-55 rout of AEL on the road behind 23 points from Rorie Ahmaad.

  • Tofas beat Keravnos 84-74 in the reverse fixture in Cyprus but are yet to win a BCL game at home. Keravnos on the other hand are yet to win a game in the competition, having lost all their previous four games by an average margin of 21 points.

  • Tofas lead the league in steals, averaging 10 per game. By contrast, Keravnos give up 21.5 points off turnovers per game on average, more than any other team so far this season.

  • DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell of Tofas has scored in double digits in 17 consecutive BCL games and is looking to become on Wednesday the second player in league history to score in double digits in 18 games in a row, after Pinar Karsiyaka's D.J. Kennedy. Akoon-Purcell has never scored fewer than 10 points in a BCL game.

  • Brandon Rozzell of Keravnos had 10 assists in the reverse fixture, twice more than in his other three BCL appearances combined. Rozzell though scored 15 or more points in each of his last two games.

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

 

  • Dijon will advance to the Play-Offs if they win, while Nymburk will secure a spot in the Play-Offs if they win and Keravnos beat Tofas.

  • Nymburk enjoyed a 120-63 rout of Kralovsti Sokoli in Czech league action on Saturday as Lukas Palyza went off for 24 points.

  • Dijon were last in domestic league action on December 26, when they clinched an 80-71 win over Bourg behind a 21-point, 5-rebound showing by Hans Vanwijn.

  • Dijon have a 3-0 record against Nymburk in the BCL and won all three games by a double-digit point differential. Dijon are the only team in competition history to have faced Nymburk three times without losing even once.

  • Nymburk are leading the league in rebounding, with 45 boards per game and in defensive rebounds with 29.5 per game.

  • Dijon give up only 24 points in the paint per game on average, fewer than any other team so far this season.

  • Dijon hold opponents to a field goal percentage of 39.6 percent on average, and are the best in the league in that defensive metric.

  • Nymburk's Retin Obasohan had 3 points and 1 assist in the reverse fixture but he went on to average 18 points and 7.3 assists per game over the three BCL games that followed that game in Dijon.

  • Dijon's Axel Julien has 206 BCL career assists and David Holston has 202 BCL career assists. They are two of 10 players, and the only pair of teammates, to have dished out more than 200 assists in the competition.

Pszczolka Start Lublin (0-4) vs. Falco Szombathely (2-2) -- Group D, 18:30 CET

 

  • Lublin suffered an 82-62 loss to Stal Ostrow in Polish league action on Saturday, despite a 16-point, 6-rebound showing from Martins Laksa.

  • By contrast, Falco are coming off an 84-72 win over Kaposvari in Hungarian league action, as Zoltan Perl collected 20 points and 6 assists in just 25 minutes of action.

  • Falco won 84-75 in the reverse fixture in Hungary. Lublin, who are debuting in the BCL this season, are yet to win a game in the competition.

  • Falco, who are visiting Poland for the first time in their BCL history, have a 1-7 record in their eight games on the road in the competition and gave up 80 or more points in six of those games.

  • Falco have a 77.9 defensive rebounding rate, the highest in the league so far this season. The Hungarian side also give up just 3.8 second-chance points per game, fewer than any other team.

  • Lublin average 72.8 points per game and are tied with Keravnos for the second-least productive offense in the league this season.

  • Kyan Anderson of Falco, who dished 9 or more assists in each of his last three BCL appearances, has a total of 30 assists and 7 turnovers in the first four games. The Falco guard is one of only three players with at least 30 assists and fewer than 10 turnovers so far this season - Omar Cook of Burgos and Tamir Blatt of Hapoel Jerusalem are the other two.

Iberostar Tenerife (3-1) vs. Dinamo Sassari (3-1) -- Group A, 20:30 CET

 

  • The winner of this game will secure a spot in the Play-Offs.

  • Tenerife succumbed to a 92-85 loss to Real Madrid at home in Spanish Liga Endesa action on Saturday, despite an 18-point, 8-rebound display by Giorgi Shermadini.

  • Sassari on the other hand clinched an 85-78 win over Reggio Emilia in Italian Serie A action on Sunday, behind a 22-point, 14-rebound double-double by Miro Bilan.

  • Sassari beat Tenerife 92-72 in the reverse fixture, inflicting on the Spanish team their largest ever defeat in their five-year history in the BCL.

  • Tenerife have an effective field goal percentage of 66% and are leading the league in eFG%. The Spanish team score 1.27 points per possession as second in the league in that offensive metric.

  • Sassari average a league-high 42 points in the paint per game and are joint league leaders in second-chance points, averaging 15 per game.

  • Tenerife's Bruno Fitipaldo is averaging 10.5 assists over his last two BCL games, after averaging 4 assists per game over his previous 32 appearances in the competition.

  • Justin Tillman has scored 59 points off the bench (including 21 points in the reverse fixture), more than any other player so far this BCL season. Sassari have won all three games in which Tillman scored 15 or more points.