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23 things to look out for in Wednesday's games

 

MIES (Switzerland) - Regular Season Week 9 action concludes on Wednesday with four games that will likely clear up the qualification picture across three different groups. A detailed look at this week's permutations can be found here.

Here are 23 things you need to know ahead of Wednesday's four games:

Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (3-1) v PAOK mateco (3-1)

Group G - 18:30 CET - Belgrade, Serbia

Next milestone in sight for Levi Randolph: 1,000 career points in the BCL

● Jerusalem have won 11 of their last 13 games in the BCL Regular Season but one of the two defeats came in the reverse fixture, in Thessaloniki. Jerusalem have scored more than 80 points in six of their last seven Regular Season games.

● PAOK are looking to extend their winning streak in the BCL to three games, a feat they last accomplished in November-December 2019. PAOK won each of their previous two games (against Benfica and against Jerusalem) by exactly 2 points.

● PAOK shot 50 percent from the floor in three of their four BCL games this season. They had such high field goal percentage in three of their previous 25 games in the competition.

● Jerusalem held their opponents to a field goal percentage lower than 50 percent in six of their last seven games, with the only exception being the reverse fixture against PAOK.

● Jerusalem's Levi Randolph reached 910 BCL career points in the previous game (against Galatasaray), becoming only the third player to surpass the 900-point mark, after Vojtech Hruban and Giorgi Shermadini. Randolph led Jerusalem in scoring in their last three BCL games, and has averaged 20.8 points per game in his last eight BCL appearances.

● PAOK’s Laurynas Beliauskas scored a BCL career-high 20 points in the game against Benfica, which marked his 33rd appearance in the competition. Beliauskas, who is averaging 11.3 points per game this season, had never averaged more than 5.3 points per game in any of his previous three BCL campaigns.

EWE Baskets Oldenburg (1-3) v Pinar Karsiyaka (3-1)

Group E - 20:00 CET - Oldenburg, Germany

Vernon Carey will enter another select BCL club if he scores 15 or more points on Wednesday

● This will be the fourth BCL encounter between Oldenburg and Karsiyaka. The Turkish side won 85-83 in the reverse fixture this season, while Oldenburg had won the first two games, in the 2017-18 season. Both teams scored more than 80 points in each of their previous three games.

● When Oldenburg prevailed 81-64 over Filou Oostende in their most recent game, they snapped an 8-game losing streak in the BCL. On Wednesday, Oldenburg will look to win back-to-back BCL Regular Season games for the first time since January-February 2018.

● Karsiyaka have already more wins so far this year than in the 2022-23 BCL Regular Season, which they concluded on a 2-4 record. However, they have lost their last seven road games in the BCL (this number also includes the previous two seasons), giving up 80+ points in each of the most recent three.

● Oldenburg's DeWayne Russell has scored 17+ points in four consecutive games, a feat he achieves for the first time in his BCL career. Russell also had 5+ rebounds in each of his last six appearances in the competition.

● If Karsiyaka's Vernon Carey Jr. scores 15 or more points in Wednesday's game he will become only the 9th player in competition history to have scored 15+ points in each of his first five games in the BCL. Carey has also had 8+ rebounds in three of his four games so far and is the 6th leading rebounder in the league, with 7.3 boards per game.

SL Benfica (1-3) v Galatasaray EKMAS (1-3)

Group G - 20:30 CET - Lisbon, Portugal

Slovenian international Klemen Prepelic is expected to make his BCL debut on Wednesday

● New Galatasaray signings Klemen Prepelic and David McCormack are expected to debut with the yellow-reds in this game. Jarell Martin however will be sidelined due to injury.

● Benfica are 1-6 in their last seven BCL games after going 4-1 in their first five BCL games. Each of Benfica's last 10 BCL games was won by the team that was leading at the end of the 3rd quarter.

● Galatasaray are 1-5 in their last six BCL games, but that win was the 98-78 victory over Benfica in the reverse fixture. The Turkish side are 0-4 in their last four BCL road games, their longest such losing steak in the competition.

● Galatasaray commit more fouls than any other team in the BCL this season (26.5 per game) and consequently allow opponents a league-high 29.8 attempted free-throws per game, and a league-high 22 made free-throws per game.

● In the BCL, Benfica's Ivan Almeida has averaged 18.7 points per game at home since January 2023, compared with 9.7 points per game on the road during the same period. Nonetheless, in Istanbul, he led Benfica in scoring in the reverse fixture with 16 points.

● Galatasaray's Ismet Akpinar averaged 20 points per game over his last two BCL appearances, after averaging 6.5 points per game over his first two appearances this season. Akpinar made 7 three-pointers over his last two games, as many as in his previous seven BCL games combined.

UCAM Murcia (3-1) v Bertram Derthona Tortona (4-0)

Group H - 20:30 CET - Murcia, Spain


Murcia's Troy Caupain....sees red every time he plays a home game in the BCL

● This is not the first time Murcia are riding a three-game winning streak in the BCL, but it is the first time they won all three by 15 or more points. Murcia have also won the last 12 Regular Season games they played at home (this number includes the past three BCL seasons).

● Tortona, who are on a 4-game winning streak in the BCL, are chasing the record set in 2017-18, by Virtus Segafredo Bologna, who became the only Italian team to start their maiden campaign in the competion on a 7-game winning streak.

● The reverse fixture, in which Tortona prevailed 78-74 over Murcia in Italy, was the only time that Tortona were held below 80 points since they joined the BCL. In each of Tortona's next three games, both the Italian side and their opponents scored more than 80 points.

● Murcia are leading the BCL this season in defensive rating, allowing only 95.5 points per 100 possessions. The Spanish team also allow the fewer second-chance points (7.8 per game) in the league.

● Murcia's Troy Caupain has averaged 16.3 points per game over his last six home games in the BCL and was on winning team in all six games (either as a Darussafaka or as an UCAM Murcia player). Caupain made at least 3 three-pointers in four of his last five home games in the competition.

● Tortona's Retin Obasohan (Derthona) has averaged 16 points and 6.2 assists per game over his last nine BCL appearances. The Belgian international posted a double-double of 19 points and 12 assists on his last trip to Spain, in January 2022, when he faced BAXI Manresa as a Hapoel Jerusalem player.