MIES (Switzerland) - Can Galatasaray MCT Technic come back to winning ways after their head coaching change? Can Cibona and Unicaja follow up after impressive debuts?
These are just a couple of questions that will be answered following Tuesday's action in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL. Be prepared with these 24 must-know facts about it.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely vs. Salon Vilpas - Group C, 18:00 CET
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely lost their opening game in this BCL season (99-93 at Windrose Giants Antwerp), but only once in their previous six league campaigns have they lost their two opening games (2023-24); the Hungarians have won their first game at home in five of their previous six BCL seasons.
Salon Vilpas will play their second road game in this BCL season after losing to AEK BC away from home by two points (95-93) despite leading for 19:34 minutes.
Szombathely allowed the opposition’s bench unit to score 50+ points in two of their last three BCL games, as often as in their first 57 games; they allowed 54 points from Antwerp’s bench players on Gameday 1, the most they have conceded in a BCL game.
Zoltan Perl (Szombathely) has recorded 20+ points in 18 BCL games, while no player has had more such performances in league history (also Levi Randolph); Perl has also scored in double figures in his last 20 BCL games, and if he does that against Vilpas, he will have the longest such sequence in league history.
Leland Walker put up 28 points and seven assists in his BCL debut for Vilpas, but only one player in league history has combined 25+ points and 5+ assists in each of his first two appearances (TJ Shorts II in October 2022).
Six players finished in double digits for Szombathely, including Zoltan Perl (17 points), leading the Hungarians to the 106-78 road win over NKA Universitas Pecs; Vilpas took down Bisons Loimaa 81-70 away from home, with Leland Walker (25 points and 5 assists) shining once again.
BK KVIS Pardubice vs. Unicaja - Group E, 18:00 CET
BK KVIS Pardubice lost their first game ever in the BCL (82-65 at Pallacanestro Reggiana), but no Czech team have lost their two opening games in league history.
This is the first time in their six BCL seasons that Unicaja play their first two games on the road: thus far they have won their first two league fixtures in each of their five previous campaigns.
Unicaja have failed to make 10 three-pointers in each of their last three BCL games but have endured a longer such streak only once before, four games in November-December 2023.
Lubos Kovar had 12 points in his first BCL game with Pardubice, his highest scoring performance in 23 league appearances; however, he is yet to score in double digits in back-to-back fixtures.
Willy Hernangomez scored 23 points in his BCL debut, the most by a Spanish player in his first-ever game in the competition; no player from that country has ever recorded 20 or more points in each of his two first BCL appearances.
During the weekend in Czechia, Pardubice were defeated 82-79 at home by Decin; in Spain, Unicaja conquered Manresa 84-72 thanks to a masterful 31-point performance by Cameron Hunt.
Galatasaray MCT Technic vs. SIG Strasbourg - Group B, 19:00 CET
Galatasaray lost this BCL season opener (96-76 at Cibona), but they have lost only one of their first two games over their last six campaigns (in 2023-24); their last five BCL home games have ended with single-digit margins (W2 L3).
SIG Strasbourg have won just one of their last five BCL games in Türkiye, this after winning their first three fixtures there; Strasbourg scored 100 points in their most recent BCL game but haven’t had back-to-back games with 90+ points since January 2022.
Strasbourg have made 10+ three-pointers in each of their last three BCL games and will attempt to equal their best run in the competition, four games in November 2020-January 2021. They have won 19 of the last 21 BCL games where they made 10+ shots from behind the arc.
Three of Galatasaray's four players to have scored in double figures in GD1 came off the bench; their second unit has scored more than 50 percent of the entire team's points in seven of their most recent nine BCL fixtures.
Jaylen Hands has scored exactly 15 points in three of his last four BCL games, including in his first appearance with Strasbourg (vs. Legia Warszawa); his teams have lost all six games when Hands has recorded below 15 points in BCL history.
The two sides had different results during the weekend: Galatasaray lost 83-80 on the road against Besiktas with their newest arrival, KJ Simpson, scoring 12 points in the defeat, while Strasbourg won 72-70 at home against Roanne as Jaylen Hands put up 28 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Cibona vs. Legia Warszawa - Group B, 20:00 CET
After opening their season with a 96-76 win against Galatasaray, Cibona will be looking to achieve something they managed only once in their previous BCL campaign, in 2016-17: win back-to-back games.
Legia lost their opening fixture in this BCL season (100-62 at Strasbourg) and will try to avoid losing their first two games of a league campaign for the third time in their three BCL seasons; however, all their previous three victories happened on the road.
Cibona made 14 shots from the three-point range on GD1 against Galatasaray after never making more than 10 three-pointers in their first 14 games in the BCL. They made 61 percent of their attempts from behind the arc in that game after never recording a performance of 50 percent from deep previously.
Khalif Battle (Cibona) had 32 points and 5 assists on GD1 against Galatasaray, the 6th player with 30+ points and 5+ assists in his BCL debut and, among them, only the second one across the last eight seasons.
Kristers Zoriks (Legia) has averaged 19.0 points in his last five games in the BCL; his teams have lost each of the last four games in which he managed to reach 20 points.
Despite Roko Badzim (21 points and 7 assists) and Rickey McGill (15 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds) shining, Cibona lost 95-94 at home against Borac Cacak; in Poland, Legia also had a one-point outcome, but won 73-72 against Anwil Wloclawek, led by Arguster Daniels (22 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists) and Zach Freemantle (16 points and 12 rebounds).