08 October, 2019
04 October, 2020
0 Nick Johnson (ANKA)
16/01/2020
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Five things we learned this week - Gameday 11

MIES (Switzerland) - Do you know how to prepare for a trip to Ankara, the math behind Tango, or what's the best way to go out with a bang?


Find out all that - and more - as we have an alternative look at some facts and stats from Gameday 11 action in the Basketball Champions League:

1. IT TAKES TWO (OR FOUR) TO TANGO


The Wednesday encounter between Anwil Wloclawek and Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem is one of the best basketball games you will watch all year, for its entertaining value and suspense, and the fact it ended up also being a scoring fest is an added bonus.

Hapoel eked out a 107-102 victory in the third encounter in competition history to see both teams hit the century mark without needing overtime - all those three games were during the current season!

Hapoel's offensive machine fired on four cylinders: John Holland scored 25 points, James Feldeine and TaShawn Thomas had 23 points apiece and J’Covan Brown got 21 off the bench as the Israeli side became the first team in BCL history to have four players scoring 20 or more points in the same game. Feldeine in particular hit seven triples, a feat he achieved for the second time this season, becoming the first player this season to hit five or more three-pointers in four different games.

Meanwhile Anwil scored 66 points in the paint, which is the third-highest tally close to the rim in the history of the BCL - MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg had scored 68 points in the paint against Szolnoki Olaj in November 2016 and Happy Casa Brindisi also scored 68 against Neptunas Klaipeda on Gameday 8, last December.

2. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED IN ANKARA


There were quite a few one-of-a-kind occurrences in the Wednesday clash between Turk Telekom and BAXI Manresa which ended in a 78-72 win for the hosts, starting of course with the fact that the Spanish team fielded a seven-man squad due to a sudden bout of flu within its ranks.

It would be natural for Manresa to just give up but instead, their captain Pere Tomas got the hot hand from beyond the arc, poured in 26 points on 7 of 11 three-point shooting and the visitors led until halfway through the third quarter. Tomas had scored a combined 30 points in his previous four BCL games and no other Manresa player has scored more than 26 points in a single game so far in the competition.

Meanwhile Turk Telekom's bench scored only 3 points (a triple by R.J. Hunter), which is a new record for the lowest bench production in a single game this season.

On the other hand, the Turkish team dished 21 assists and committed only 7 turnovers, and this was only the second time that they had an assist-to-turnover ratio better than 2 to 1. Strasbourg have achieved this feat in three games and.... Manresa are leading the league with four.

Last but not least, Nick Johnson became the first player this season to collect at least 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a single game this season, as he finished with an efficiency rating of 20 for the hosts.


3. REBOUNDS MATTER


On Tuesday, AEK lost 96-84 at home to Teksut Bandirma and set two negative records in the process: The Greek team collected only 17 rebounds, of which 11 on the defensive glass, with both figures the lowest ever recorded by a home team in the competition. Bandirma's
Emanuel Terry meanwhile grabbed 11 rebounds on the night, recording his seventh game this season of 10 or more rebounds. The Bandirma power forward is leading the league in this respect.

There is only a handful of things Dyshawn Pierre hasn't already done for Dinamo Sassari, and the list keeps getting shorter: The Canadian forward grabbed 19 rebounds in his team's 91-71 win over Polski Culkier Torun, to go with his 16 points. Pierre collected 14 defensive and 5 offensive boards, but could not get closer to the absolute BCL record, which Telenet Giant Antwerp's Dave Duzinski set last November by bringing down 22 rebounds in a loss to Anwil.

Another Antwerp player, Ibrahima Fall Faye, collected 10 rebounds in the Belgian side's 79-72 loss to RASTA Vechta on Tuesday. The 23-year-old big man has now tied Kinglsey Moses of Peristeri for most games of at least 10 rebounds off the bench this season, as both players have recorded this feat in four games.

4. MONTENEGRO SAYS NO


Mornar Bar revived their hopes in the Group C play-off race with a 77-73 win over Brose Bamberg on Tuesday, and added a little cherry on top by setting a new BCL record which could remain intact for a long time

The Montenegro side blocked 11 shots on the night, the most by a team in a single BCL game. Uros Lukovic was of course the main responsible as he came up with 6 of those blocks, a league-high this season.

Lukovic, who also had 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with his 6 blocks, became only the second player in competition history to post a double-double and also get 5 or more blocks. The only one to have ever achieved this feat prior to Tuesday night was Sean Denison, in December 2016.

5. GO OUT WITH A BANG


If you are going to drop out of the race for a spot in the Play-Offs, you might as well make some noise. Gaziantep did just that on Wendesday, during their 86-79 win over VEF Riga:

Gaziantep's bench scored 45 points, a new record for the Turkish side in the BCL. The previous highest-scoring game for Gaziantep's second unit was against Ventspils in November 2017, when it contributed 38 points.

The main culprit was of course Sarunas Vasiliauskas, who came off the bench and poured in 20 points in 28 minutes. The Lithuanian became only the second player in BCL history to collect at least 20 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists off the bench. David Kennedy had 24 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists off the bench for Pinar Karsiyaka in a game against Enisey Krasnoyarsk in November 2017.

Interestingly, Vasiliauskas is only the second Gaziantep player to score 20 points off the bench in a BCL game - Jure Balazic scored 23 points against Capo d’Orlando in October 2017.