MIES (Switzerland) - Darussafaka were on the ropes heading into the Play-In series, matched up against the two-time defending champions Hereda San Pablo Burgos. But they bobbed and weaved to a 2-1 series win behind Dogus Ozdemiroglu's leadership, reaching the Round of 16 and getting him the MVP of January award.

The 25-year-old started the month with 17 points and 5 assists in 22 minutes of work, but Dacka dropped Game 1 on the road in Burgos. Things looked better in Game 2, the black-and-green Istanbul squad tying things up behind Ozdemiroglu's 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Dogus delivered both on and off the court in the decisive Game 3 in Spain, scoring 14 points, with 3 rebounds and 3 steals to seal the deal in Burgos and leave the defending champions without a chance to go for a three-peat.

Ozdemiroglu rounded up a fabulous month with a near triple-double in the all-Turkish affair, getting 18 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists against Tofas Bursa to start the Round of 16.

Darussafaka's leader is the fourth different MVP of the month in the Basketball Champions League this season, following MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg's Jonah Radebaugh (MVP of October), Rytas Vilnius' Ivan Buva (MVP of November), and U-BT Cluj Napoca's Brandon Brown (MVP of December).

The 25-year-old is already a club legend in Istanbul. He played his first season as a pro back in 2013, and spent his entire career with Darussafaka, with two loan spells to Acibadem and Yesilgiresun. He helped the team to 2018 EuroCup title, and as a national team member, he won gold at the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2014, with two bronze medals in FIBA U20 European Championship events, in 2015 and 2016.

His offense is pretty good, but it's his defense that makes him both proud and motivated to do more, which we saw first-hand when he was left off the Best Defensive Player discussion.

Ozdemiroglu is currently at 32 steals for the season, 12 more than anybody else in the Basketball Champions League, averaging 2.9 steals per game and leading the League in that department by 0.7 ahead of the previous month's MVP Brandon Brown.

With his clutch steals, he made Darussafaka fans start a campaign on Social Media, using a hashtag that quite clearly explains what separates them from all the other clubs in the BCL: #WeHaveDodoTheyDont.

Ozdermiroglu will receive his MVP award before one of the upcoming Darussafaka home games.