20 October, 2020
09 May, 2021
Brandon Rozzell (KERA), Chase Simon (JDA)
02/11/2020
News
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Week 3 Tuesday fixtures preview

MIES (Switzerland) - Tofas Bursa are making their Basketball Champions League debut on Tuesday, with a visit to Keravnos in Group B action, less than a week since their new head coach Hakan Demir took the reins of the team.

Also in Group B, ERA Nymburk are travelling to JDA Dijon in the Czech team's BCL season opener while in Group D Falco are making their 2020-21 debut to the competition by playing host to Polish newcomers Start Lublin.

Let's have a closer look at Tuesday's three-game slate, which lifts the curtain on Week 3 action in the 2020-21 Regular Season:

JDA Dijon (1-0) vs. ERA Nymburk (0-0) -- Group B, 18:00 CET

  • Dijon were last in action on Tuesday October 27th, in the French Jeep Elite league, and they clinched an 87-72 win over Chalons at home, behind a 22-point display by big man Alexandre Chassang.

  • Nymburk, for whom this game is their 2020-21 BCL opener, have not played in their domestic league since October 10th, when they beat Pardubice at home.

  • Since their last outing, the Czech champions parted ways with Luka Rupnik and signed Belgian international Retin Obasohan [more details on Nymburk's transfers here]

  • This will be the third encounter between Dijon and Nymburk in the BCL, with the French side winning both previous games back in 2018.

  • Dijon have won their last four home games in the BCL, their longest winning streak at home in the competition; three of those four wins were by a margin of 12 or more points.

  • Nymburk won the first road game of the season in three of their previous four BCL campaigns. The only exception however was at the hands of Dijon! The Czech side lost 74-63 in France, in what was their first road game of that season.

  • Dijon's David Holston has scored at least 20 points in each of his previous two BCL games and is looking to extend that streak on Tuesday to three games in a row, for the first time in his BCL career. Holston's prospects of extending the streak are looking good if we consider that he scored 20 points the last time he faced Nymburk, in December 2018.

  • Nymburk's Vojtech Hruban led all scorers in each of the previous two encounters between the two sides. Hruban had 22 points in the October 2018 game and scored 24 points in the clash that took place in December that year (Dijon won both games though). The Czech winger has scored in double digits in each of his previous 12 BCL games, his longest such streak in the competition.

Falco Szombathely (0-0) vs. Pszczolka Start Lublin (0-1) -- Group D, 18:00 CET

  • Falco, who are embarking on their second consecutive BCL campaign on Tuesday, were last in action on Saturday and they defeated PVSK 91-72 at home for the Hungarian league behind Evan Bruinsma's 19 points and 7 rebounds.

  • Meanwhile Lublin's latest outing was on Sunday, as they fell 82-79 to Legia at home in Polish league action, despite a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double from Josh Sharma.

  • Falco have won five of their seven home games in the BCL, with four of those wins by a margin of 10 or more points.

  • Lublin lost their maiden BCL game two weeks previously (86-85 at home to Casademont Zaragoza) and on Tuesday they will try to avoid becoming the first Polish team to lose their first two games in the competition.

  • Lublin nonetheless collected 30 defensive rebounds in that loss to Zaragoza (the only team to get more defensive boards in their season opener this year was Brose Bamberg, with 31). By contrast, Falco was bottom of the league in defensive rebounding in the 2019-20 season, averaging 22.3 per game.

  • Zoltan Perl led Falco in scoring in home games in last season's BCL, averaging 14.9 points per game in Szombathely. The Hungarian international also led Falco in assists, with 4.8 per game.

  • Lublin's Kamil Laczynski, who has previously competed in the BCL with Anwil, is averaging 5.5 assists in his eight most recent BCL games. The Polish point guard averaged 10.8 assists in his first five games in the competition and he dished out 10 or more assists in four of those games.

Keravnos (0-1) vs. Tofas Bursa (0-0) -- Group B, 18:30 CET

  • Keravnos are coming off a 74-71 win at home over Etha Engomi in Cypriot league action on Saturday, behind a 22-point, 5-assist showing by Brandon Rozzell.

  • Tofas meanwhile were in Turkish BSL league action on Saturday and fell 103-104 to Fenernahce in Bursa, despite DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell erupting for a game-high 37 points on 13 of 17 shooting from the floor.

  • The weekend game against Fenerbahce was Tofas's first under new head coach Hakan Demir, who took the reins of the team only last week.

  • Keravnos, who debuted in the BCL with a loss at Dijon during Week 1, are playing their maiden home game in the competition on Tuesday. They are the first Cypriot team ever to play in the league so there are no comparisons with previous campaigns of clubs from their country, but 64 percent of teams won their first game at home in their maiden BCL season.

  • Tofas are making their BCL debut on Tuesday. Six of the previous eight Turkish teams to have taken part in the BCL won their first game in the competition. The only exceptions were Muratbey Usak in 2016-17 and Galatasaray this season.

  • Keravnos scored only 20 points in the paint in their first BCL game and also attempted only 18 three-pointers, less than any other team during the first two weeks of action this season.

  • It's still early days in the season but so far Ahmaad Rorie of Keravnos and Q. J. Peterson of Bakken Bears are tied for most made free-throws without a miss, as they each have gone 8 for 8 at the stripe.

  • Akoon-Purcell of Tofas however has a much stronger connection to Bakken, as he played in the 2016-17 BCL season with the Danish champions and averaged 17.4 points per game after scoring in double digits in each of his 14 appearances.