MIES (Switzerland) - The opening week of Season 9 in the Basketball Champions League comes to a close with a seven-game slate on Wednesday. Here's a closer look at some facts and figures for each game:
PROMITHEAS PATRAS vs. ERA NYMBURK (Group D, 18:00 CET)
Promitheas Patras will play in back-to-back BCL seasons for the first time in their history (third season overall). The Greek club won their opening game in each of their previous two BCL campaigns.
This will be ERA Nymburk's eighth campaign in the BCL. The Czech champions missed out on the 2023-24 season but competed in each of the first seven editions. Nymburk have won only two of their last eight BCL games against Greek teams, but their last win was on the road (84-83 at PAOK in October 2021).
ERA Nymburk are the BCL historical leaders in rebounds, averaging 41 boards per game. The Czech side outrebounded their opponents in 66 percent of their games in the BCL, which places them second only behind UCAM Murcia (72 percent) among all teams that have played at least 20 games in the competition.
Kenny Williams of Promitheas will take part in his third BCL season and will represent his third different Greek team in the competition (AEK in 2022-23 and Peristeri in 2023-24). Williams scored in double digits in his last five games at home in the BCL. He had four 10+ point games over his previous nine home games in the BCL.
Jaromir Bohacik will play in his fourth season with ERA Nymburk in the BCL, after suiting up with SIG Strasbourg during the last two seasons. The Czech international scored in double figures in nine of his last 11 games against Greek teams, while making at least one 3-pointer in each of those encounters.
IGOKEA M:TEL vs. NANTERRE 92 (Group A, 18:30 CET)
Igokea m:tel will take part in their 5th BCL campaign, never missing an edition since the 2020-/21 season. They were one of only two teams, alongside Opava, to lose all their six games in the 2023-24 BCL Regular Season.
Nanterre 92 are back in the BCL after competing in 2017-18 and 2018-19. They have won four of their last six road games in the BCL Regular Season, with each of the most recent four being decided by margins of either 11 or 12 points.
Nanterre 92 average 40.8 percent from three-point range in the BCL, as the only team in competition history with a three-point field goal percentage higher than 40 percent, 40. The French side shot 40 percent or higher from behind the arc in nine of their last 11 BCL Regular Season games.
Marko Josilo has taken part in 32 of Igokea m:tel’s 35 games in the BCL, more than any other player with the Bosnian side. He scored 17 points in his last game in the competition, against Derthona in December 2023, tying his BCL high.
Paul Lacombe of Nanterre is the only French player to have surpassed the 500-point and 150-assist mark in the BCL, he currently has 504 career points and 152 career assists. He's played in the BCL with both Strasbourg and Monaco and made at least one 3-pointer in each of his five BCL games in 2024.
KARSIYAKA vs. LA LAGUNA TENERIFE (Group C, 18:30 CET)
Karsiyaka and La Laguna Tenerife have faced each other five times in the BCL, with the Spanish side winning four of those games, including the most recent three. All of their previous five encounters were decided by a single-digit margin and three of those games ended in a win for the team that was trailing at half-time.
This will be Karsiyaka’s 7th season in the BCL and their fifth in a row. The Turkish club have won their opening game of a BCL season on all six previous campaigns.
This will be La Laguna Tenerife’s 9th campaign in the BCL, as one of the only three clubs, alongside AEK Betsson and Filou Oostende, to have taken part in all editions of the competition. The Spanish team have won their opening game in seven of their previous eight seasons, a joint-high alongside SIG Strasbourg.
Karsiyaka's Errick McCollum has averaged 20.2 points and 4.8 assists per game when playing at home in the BCL, averaging 2.2 three-pointers per game in the process. The veteran guard scored at least 19 points in each of his two BCL games against La Laguna Tenerife.
La Laguna Tenerife have on their roster the all-time BCL leader in games and rebounds (Tim Abromaitis, 101 games and 473 rebounds), the all-time BCL leading scorer (Giorgi Shermadini, 1132 points) and the all-time BCL assists leader (Marcelinho Huertas, 602 assists).
WKS SLASK WROCLAW vs. FALCO-VULCANO SZOMBATHELY (Group F, 20:00 CET)
WKS Slask Wroclaw will become the 9th Polish team to compete in the BCL, and hope to become the second team from Poland to advance from the Regular Season, after Zielona Gora in 2017-18. Only three of the previous eight Polish teams managed to won their opening game in the competition.
Falco Szombathely will play their 6th season in the BCL, never missing an edition since their debut in 2019-20. The Hungarian champions lost eight of their last nine road games in the BCL, but got the win on their only previous trip to Poland (83-59 over Start Lublin, in January 2021), which is also their largest road win in the competition.
Falco Szombathely had the best perimeter defense in the 2023-24 BCL season, holding opponents to just 29.4 percent shooting from 3-point range. The Hungarian team's opponents averaged 7.3 made triples per game over the last two BCL seasons, the third-best (lowest) average in the league during that span.
Wroclaw's Jeremy Senglin has already played in the BCL, with Nanterre 92 in the 2018-19 season. He scored 10 or more points in 14 of his 16 games that season, averaging 13.9 points per contest and hitting multiple 3-pointers in 11 of these games.
Falco Szombathely's Zoltan Perl is one of only two players in BCL history to have scored 500+ points off the bench. He currently has 522 career points off the bench, and could overcome Dusan Sakota, who finished with 533. Perl averaged 16.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game over his last seven road games in the competition.
FMP SOCCERBET vs. PERISTERI DOMINO’S (Group H, 20:00 CET)
This will be FMP SoccerBet’s first appearance in the BCL Regular Season. Partizan and Mega Leks are the two Serbian teams to have taken part in the competition previously, both during the very first BCL season, in 2016-17.
Peristeri Domino’s will compete in the BCL for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Greek club have alternated between wins and defeats in each of their last eight games in the Regular Season, winning the most recent one (76-73 v Unicaja in December 2023).
Peristeri Domino’s had their best offensive BCL campaign last season, when they averaged 82.3 points per game. They had never averaged more than 80 points per game in any of their previous three campaigns in the BCL.
FMP SoccerBet’s head coach Sasa Nikitovic has already led a team in the BCL, it was in 2018-19 with Petrol Olimpija. The Slovenian team won only one of their 14 games that season and none of their seven home games.
Vassilis Xanthopoulos of Peristeri has appeared in 88 BCL games and is 5th on the list of players with most games in the competition. Interestingly, he came off the bench in 75 of those games, at least 20 more than any other player in competition history.
BERTRAM DERTHONA BASKET vs. NINERS CHEMNITZ (Group G, 20:30 CET)
Bertram Derthona Tortona will feature for the 2nd season in the BCL after debuting in 2023-24, where they were eliminated in the Play-Ins. They had a perfect 3-0 record in their three home games in the BCL Regular Season.
NINERS Chemnitz are one of two German teams, alongside FIT/One Würzburg Baskets, to make their BCL debut this year. Three of the previous seven teams from Germany won their first ever game in the competition, the most recent being RASTA Vechta in 2019-20.
Bertram Derthona Basket’s head coach Walter De Raffaele is 10th on the list of coaches with most BCL games, with 54 before Wednesday's game. His teams have a 17-4 record in 21 home games in the Regular Season but the last time he tasted defeat in a home BCL game was against a German team, when Telekom Baskets Bonn defeated Umana Reyer Venezia 73-69 in January 2019.
Tommaso Baldasso scored at least 9 points in all eight of his BCL appearances with Betram Derthona Tortona in the 2023-24 season, scoring a total of exactly 100 points. The Italian scored 88 of his 100 points off the bench, the fifth-highest ratio among players with 100+ points last year.
DeAndre Lansdowne of Chemnitz has averaged 14 points per game as a starter in the BCL, scoring at least one 3-pointer in 11 of those 13 games. However, he started in only three of his 18 BCL Regular Season games.
BAXI MANRESA vs. SL BENFICA (Group G, 20:45 CET)
This will be BAXI Manresa’s 4th season in the BCL, their longest run was in 2021-22 when they reached the Final. They won their opening game in each of their previous three seasons in the BCL.
SL Benfica will compete in the BCL for the third straight season and will face BAXI Manresa for the third time. The team that was playing on the road won in each of the two previous games, with the Portuguese side winning 92-82 at Manresa in November 2022.
BAXI Manresa average 20.3 assists per game in the BCL historically and are, alongside San Pablo Burgos, the only two teams to average more than 20 assists per game in the BCL (only taking into consideration teams that have played more than one season in the BCL). Manresa dished 20 or more assists in 17 of their 21 home games in the competition.
Retin Obasohan, who joined BAXI Manresa this summer, will play with a 6th different team in the BCL (Avellino, Bamberg, Nymburk, Jerusalem and Derthona where his previous stops), tying Tyrus McGee's record. The Belgian international has averaged 14.5 points and 5 assists over his last 13 BCL games.
Ahmaad Rorie, now with SL Benfica, will compete in his second season in the BCL after representing Keravnos in 2020-21. He posted his BCL career-high 23 points in the first game of his previous season in the league (against Dijon, in October 2020).