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24 things to look out for in Tuesday's games

 

MIES (Switzerland) - The Round of 16 arrives at its halfway point this week and three of the five teams that are still to tick the win column in this phase are in action on Tuesday.

Week 3 gets underway on Tuesday with a four-game slate that includes two Group L contests and one each from Group I and Group J.

Here are 24 things you need to know ahead of Tuesday's four games:

AEK BETSSON BC (0-2) vs. UCAM Murcia (2-0)

Group L - 18:30 CET - Athens, Greece

A BCL old hand:Dylan Ennis is gearing up for his 50th game in the league

● AEK and Murcia have faced each other once before, in the 2017-18 Semi-Finals. The Greek side prevailed 77-75 and of course went on to lift the trophy.

● AEK are currently on a 3-game losing streak in the BCL, when they had lost three of their previous 13 games in the competition. However, they have never lost four BCL games in a row, despite having played in every season since the inception of the league in 2016.

● AEK have an impressive 9-1 record in their last 10 home games in the BCL, but that sole loss was against the only Spanish team they faced in that stretch (75-65 to Unicaja in last season's Round of 16).

● If Murcia win on Tuesday they will tie their longest-ever winning streak in the BCL. They are currently riding a 7-game winning streak and their longest ever was eight wins in a row between November 2018 and February 2019.

● Murcia are 6-1 in their last seven games in the Round of 16 (this record includes the last five games in this stage in last season's BCL). They are the only team in this season's BCL to have never trailed at half-time. They were in the lead after 20 minutes in all of their eight games so far.

● AEK's Chasson Randle had a BCL career-high 22 points in the 79-68 loss to Hapoel Holon last week. Interestingly though, he hasn't scored in double digits in any of AEK's home BCL games so far. Randle made more than 1 three-pointer in six of his eight games in the BCL.

● If Murcia's Dylan Ennis steps out for Tuesday's game he will be making his 50th appearance in the BCL, and if he scores more than 15 points it will be his first three-game stretch of 15+ point games since he started playing in the competition. He's averaged 7.7 points over his last six games on the road.

SIG Strasbourg (0-2) vs. Unicaja (2-0)

Group I - 20:00 CET - Strasbourg, France

Tyson Carter is looking to score in double digits for a fourth consecutive game

● Each of Strasbourg’s last seven games in the BCL ended in a win for the home team. Strasbourg are 8-2 in their last 10 home games in the BCL and 3-0 in their three home games this season. Moreover, they are 9-0 in their last nine home games in which they scored more than 80 points.

● Unicaja are 1-2 in their last three road games in the BCL, after going 7-1 in their previous eight. However, they have a great tradition in Round of 16 games in France as they won, and by double-digit point margins, both of their previous two games there in this phase.

● Unicaja are leading the league in bench scoring this season, as their second unit is averaging 44.8 points per game. They are in fact the only team in which bench players score more points than the starters, who average 38.3 points per game.

● Strasbourg's Phil Booth is averaging 19 points and 4.7 assists per game at home in this season's BCL and made more than 1 three-pointer in each of those three home games. However, he's scored fewer than 8 points in only two of his 21 BCL games, and both were against Unicaja: (5 and 4 points respectively, as a Filou Oostende player).

● If Unicaja's Tyson Carter scores in double digits on Tuesday he will extend his stretch of +10-point games to four, which will be the longest ever of his BCL career. Carter also dished exactly 6 assists in each of his last two BCL games, which is impressive considering he had two 6-assist games over his first 27 BCL appearances.

MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg (1-1) vs. Galatasaray EKMAS (0-2)

Group J - 20:00 CET - Ludwigsburg, Germany


Yakup Sekizkok has replaced Zvesdan Mitrovic at the helm of Galatasaray

● Galatasaray have handed the reins to Yakup Sekizkok, who was until recently the head coach of Darussafaka Lassa, after they parted ways with coach Zvezdan Mitrovic last week.

● Ludwigsburg and Galatasaray have met twice before in the BCL, in the Round of 16 of the 2021-22 season, with the German side winning both games.

● Ludwigsburg are 3-0 in their last three home games in the BCL, their longest winning streak at home since October-November 2017, when they'd won four in a row. Moreover, the German team scored more than 80 points in seven of their last eight home games in the competition.

● Galatasaray have a 3-11 record in the 14 games they have played in the Round of 16 so far, and an even worse 0-7 record in the seven games that were on the road. Defense has been an issue in those games, as they gave up 80 or more points in five of the seven.

● Ludwigsburg shot 19 percent (5 of 26) from three-point range in last week's 80-75 loss at Telekom Baskets Bonn, which was their worse three-point shooting night in a BCL game since May 2022, when they shot 15 percent (4 of 26) in their semi-final clash with BAXI Manresa.

● Galatasaray's David McCormack scored a BCL career-high 21 points in last week's loss to JDA Bourgogne Dijon. He's averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 rebounds over his last four BCL games on the road.

Hapoel Holon (1-1) vs. Promitheas Patras (1-1)

Group L - 21:00 CET - Szombathely, Hungary

Hapoel Holon will have to cope with the loss of Justin Smith, their leading scorer and rebounder

● Justin Smith, who is leading Holon in both scoring and rebounds with 15.1 points and 6.6 boards per game, will miss Tuesday's encounter after suffering an injury in domestic league action on Sunday.

● This will be Holon's 100th game in the BCL, making them the fourth club to reach that milestone in the competition after Lenovo Tenerife, AEK BETSSON BC and SIG Strasbourg. Holon's overall BCL record entering Tuesday's milestone is a remarkably balanced 49 wins and 50 losses.

● Holon have alternated between wins and losses over their last six BCL games in the BCL, and are coming off a 79-68 win over AEK in the most recent one. They are 2-1 in their last three games in the Round of 16, after losing all five of their previous five games in this stage.

● Promitheas are 2-6 in their last eight road games in the BCL, however only two of their 13 road games were decided by double-digit point margins.

● Holon's C.J. Harris is averaging 15.3 points over his 14 games in the Round of 16, leading a list of 77 players with more than 10 games played in this stage in the competition. Harris scored 15+ points and made exactly six shots from the floor in each of his last four games in the Round of 16.

● Hunter Hale of Promitheas, who was named MVP of the Month for January, had a BCL career-high 29 points in last week's game against Murcia. Hale scored 20+ points in three of his last four BCL games and made 3 or more three-pointers in each of the four. By comparison, he hadn't scored more than 13 points over his first four BCL games.