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20 things to look out for in Tuesday's games


MIES (Switzerland) - The final week of the Round of 16 in the Basketball Champions League has arrived, and Week 6 begins with four games on Tuesday, March 21, as teams from Groups K and L are in action.

Here's what you need to know ahead of the four Tuesday games:

AEK (4-1) v Unicaja (4-1)

Group K - 18:30 CET - Athens, Greece

  • AEK have won their last four games in the BCL; their longest winning streak in the BCL is six in a row, a feat they achieved in 2020 en route to the Final. However, their most recent defeat in the competition came in the reverse fixture against Unicaja (88-66), their second-biggest defeat in the BCL.
  • Akil Mitchell has scored a total of eight points in his last two BCL games combined, after scoring at least 12 points in each of his previous 11 appearances with AEK in the competition; he was AEK's top scorer in the last game against Unicaja (18 points), adding 13 rebounds while his teammates had a combined 16 rebounds in that game.
  • Unicaja have only won two of their six road games in the BCL playoffs. The Spanish team scored more than 80 points in those two wins and scored fewer than 70 points in each of their four defeats in that span.
  • Unicaja lead the league in defensive rebounding rate, as they bring down 76.6 percent of the rebounds available on their defensive glass this season.
  • As a direct consequence, they concede only 9.0 second-chance points per game, fewer than any of the teams in the Round of 16. Unicaja allowed AEK to score only two second-chance points in the reverse fixture.
  • Tyler Kalinoski scored 18 points in his last BCL game, against Limoges, his best tally with Unicaja in the competition; He is averaging 8.2 points per game in the five games he has played against AEK.

Limoges CSP (0-5) v Galatasaray Nef (2-3)

Group K - 20:30 CET - Limoges, France

  • Limoges have lost their last five games in the BCL, their longest drought in the competition; this run started with a 100-73 defeat at Galatasaray, the only time they lost a BCL game by more than 20 points.
  • Limoges' Desi Rodriguez scored a BCL career-high 25 points in the Week 5 game, against Unicaja. Rodriguez had 6 or more rebounds in six of his last seven games in the competition.
  • Galatasaray have lost all five road games they have played in the BCL play-offs. They gave up 80+ points in four of those games, and were leading at halftime in three the five.
  • Galatasaray lead the league in made three-pointers, with 11.4 triples per game. Limoges have attempted fewer three-pointers than any other team this season, 20.6 per game.
  • Galatasaray's Daron Russell scored 28 points last week against AEK, setting his BCL career-high. He led Galatasaray in scoring in the reverse fixture against Limoges, with 20 points.

Surne Bilbao (1-4) v UCAM Murcia (3-2)

Group L - 20:30 CET - Bilbao, Spain

  • Bilbao have lost their last four games in the BCL, including three defeats against Spanish teams (Lenovo Tenerife x2, Murcia x1). They had as many defeats as in their previous 11 games in the competition. Bilbao have lost five of their eight home games, and each of the most recent two saw the team that trailed at halftime winning the game in the end.
  • Georgios Tsalmpouris has scored a total of 26 points in his two BCL games with Bilbao, as many as in his previous 13 games in the competition with AEK; he also grabbed 5+ rebounds and made two blocks in each of his two games with Bilbao.
  • Murcia have only lost seven of their last 34 games in the BCL, but all those defeats came while playing as the away team; they lost their last two away games but have never lost three away games in a row during a single BCL season.
  • Murcia have made 20.5 free-throws per game in the BCL this season, best average among all teams, and therefore, 23.8 percent of their points came from the line, also the highest percentage among all teams; however, Bilbao have conceded only 10.4 free-throws per game, fewer than any of the other 15 remaining teams in the competition.
  • Artem Pustovyi has combined for 15+ points and 7+ rebounds in each of his last two BCL games after doing so only once in his previous 11 games; he scored 23 points in the last game against Bilbao, his only BCL game with 20+ points despite being one of the only two games he started on the bench.

Lenovo Tenerife (4-1) v Darussafaka Lassa (2-3)

Group L - 20:30 CET - San Cristobal de La Laguna, Spain

  • This game will see the most accurate team from behind the arc (Tenerife, 41.1 percent) facing the least accurate team from three-point range (Darussafaka, 27.7 percent) in the BCL this season; in fact, only 25.8 percent of Darussafaka's points this season came from behind the arc, the lowest percentage among the 16 remaining teams.
  • Tenerife lost their last BCL game (82-67 v Murcia) but have lost consecutive games in the competition only once, back in November 2016; they have won their last 11 home games however, and a win against Darussafaka will see them registering their longest winning streak at home.
  • Tenerife failed to have a player with more than 10 points last week against Murcia, a first time in their 117 games in the competition; they have seen a player with 10+ assists in a BCL game only once this season, but it was in the last game against Darussafaka (Marcelinho Huertas, 10).
  • Darussafaka have won their last two BCL games and will try to equal their best winning streak in the competition (3-0 in March 2022); they have already traveled six times to Spain in the competition but have lost five of those games, conceding more than 80 points in each of those defeats.
  • Last week, Gabriel Olaseni became the third player with more than 25 points and more than 10 rebounds in a BCL game this season (26 points, 12 rebounds v Bilbao); Olaseni has averaged 20.7 points in his last three games against Spanish oppositions after averaging 8.1 points in his previous seven games against those teams.