MIES (Switzerland) - Let the games begin! The ninth season of the Basketball Champions League gets underway on Tuesday and there really is something for everyone, as no less than nine games are taking place on the opening day. Here's a closer look at some facts and figures for each one:
VEF Riga vs. Telekom Baskets Bonn (Group E, 18:00 CET)
This will be the sixth consecutive season that VEF Riga will be playing in the BCL; they won their opening game of a BCL season only once before (80-74 v Mornar Bar), in their first appearance in 2019-20.
Telekom Baskets Bonn will take part in their sixth BCL season and the third in a row. They won the title in 2022-23 and reached the Quarter-Finals in 2023-24. The German team won their first road game in each of their last two BCL seasons, after losing the opener in each their first three seasons.
In last year's BCL, VEF Riga scored 39.7 percent of their points from behind the arc, as the team with the highest ratio of points off three-points in the competition that season. The Latvian side averaged 11 made 3-pointers over their last six home BCL games.
VEF Riga's Dairis Bertans scored a total of 28 points over his last two BCL games after scoring 12 points over his first four appearances combined. The Latvian international also dished 6 assists in his most recent BCL game, against Darussafaka in December 2023, as many as in his first five games combined.
Bonn head coach Roel Moors will coach his 50th game in the BCL, becoming the 13th coach to reach that milestone. The Belgian tactician has won 55.1 percent of his games in the league and has reached, at the very least, the Quarter-Finals in two of his three previous campaigns in the competition.
AEK Betsson BC vs. Maccabi Ramat-Gan (Group E, 18:00 CET)
This will be AEK Betsson’s 9th season in the BCL; they are one of only three teams to have taken part in all editions of the competition, alongside La Laguna Tenerife and Filou Oostende.
AEK Betsson BC have only won one of their last six games against teams from Israel, and have lost each of the most recent three. This will be the second time they face a team from Israel in their opening game of a BCL season, after losing 79-75 against Hapoel Jerusalem in the 2018-19 opener.
This will be Maccabi Ramat-Gan's first ever campaign in the BCL, becoming the 6th team from Israel to take part in the competition and the first new one since Bnei Herzliya in 2022-23.
AEK Betsson BC averaged the most 2-pointers made (22.7 per game) and the most free-throws made (19 per game) among all teams in the 2023-24 BCL. The Greek team made 20 or more 2-pointers in each of the last three times they hosted an Israeli team.
Maccabi Ramat-Gan's Drew Crawford will play in the BCL with a 4th different team, after taking part in the competition previously with MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg, Gaziantep and Hapoel Holon. On his last trip to Athens to pkay against AEK, the veteran had 19 points and 5 rebounds as a Holon player.
FIT/One Würzburg Baskets vs. Hapoel Netanel Holon (Group A, 18:30 CET)
FIT/One Würzburg Baskets are one of two German teams, alongside Niners Chemnitz, that will make their debut in the BCL 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.
Hapoel Netanel Holon are embarking on their 8th BCL campaigm, having only missed out on the very first edition (2016-17). Holon won their first game of the season in each of the last three editions of the competition.
FIT/One Würzburg Baskets’ head coach Sasa Filipovski is back in the BCL after taking part in the first two seasons with Bandirma (Banvit), whom he led to the Final in 2016-17. He has an amazing 13-1 record in his 14 home games in the BCL Regular Season.
Owen Klassen of FIT/One Würzburg Baskets has played a total of 35 BCL games between 2017 and 2020, during his stints at PAOK, Ludwigsburg and Antwerp. Klassen grabbed more than 10 rebounds in three of his last seven games in the competition.
Elijah Mitrou-Long, now at Hapoel Netanel Holon, scored at least 12 points in each of the last seven BCL games in which he played at least 20 minutes. The Greek-American made multiple 3-pointers in the last five games in which he played 20+ minutes.
King Szczecin vs. Aliaga Petkimspor (Group B, 18:30 CET)
This will be King Szczecin's second BCL campaign, after their debut in 2023-24 where they finished on a 2-4 record and could not progress past the Regular Season. Both of the Polish team's wins last season were at home.
Aliaga Petkimspor, alongside Manisa Basket, are one of two Turkish sides that will make their debut in the BCL this season, bringing the tally of clubs from Türkiye in the competition to 13, more than any other country. Eight of the previous 11 Turkish teams won their very first game in the competition.
Tony Meier of King Szczecin scored 10 or more points in each of the last 10 BCL games in which he played more than 20 minutes, averaging 17.1 points per game in that stretch. He also made three or more 3-pointers in nine of those 10 games.
Aliaga Petkimspor head coach Burak Goren has plenty of BCL experience under his belt, as he was the playcaller of Turk Telekom during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. The Turkish tactician has a 16-4 win-loss record in the Regular Season (80 percent W/L), and led his team to the next stage in both campaigns.
DeWayne Russell of Petkimspor has taken part in the BCL in two different seasons, in 2021-22 with Treviso and in 2023-24 with Oldenburg. He averaged 15.7 points and 6.8 assists per game in the BCL Regular Season over his two campaigns.
Galatasaray vs. RASTA Vechta (Group D, 19:00 CET)
Galatasaray will take part in their 5th BCL season, never missing an edition since their first appearance in the 2020-21 season. The Turkish powerhouse won their last two games against German teams, both at home, after losing all previous four games against German opposition.
RASTA Vechta are back in the BCL after their debut European campaign in 2019-20, where they could not progress past the Regular Season. Their biggest win in the competition came in their first road game, 90-75 at Pau-Lacq-Orthez.
Despite having competed in the BCL for just one season, Vechta are still the competition's historical leaders in most made three-pointers on average in one season, with 11.3 per game in 2019-20. Galatasaray are among the other six teams to average more than 10 made 3-pointers per game (10.5) in competition history.
James Palmer Jr, who joined Galatasaray this summer, has previously played six games in the BCL. He played for Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski in 2021-22 and averaged 15.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, on a perfect 24-of-24 from the free-throw line.
Luc Van Slooten is the only Vechta player to have taken part in the club's previous campaign in the BCL, in 2019-20.
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball vs. Kolossos H Hotels (Group C, 20:00 CET)
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball will be the 11th team from France in the BCL. Türkiye, with 13, is the only country to have been represented by more different clubs in the competition.
Kolossos Rhodes will make their debut in the BCL on Tuesday. They will be the 7th team from Greece to take part in the BCL and the first debutant since Lavrio Megabolt, in 2021-22.
French teams have a 13-3 record at home against Greek opposition in the BCL Regular Season. AEK (2 times) and PAOK (1 time) are the only two Greek teams that have won games in France in the Regular Season.
Loic Schwartz of Saint-Quentin has already played 51 games in the BCL, with Proximus Spirou and Filou Oostende. The Belgian scored 10 or more points in each of his four most recent games in the competition, as often as in his first 47 appearances.
Michalis Tsairelis of Kolossos has already played 52 games in the BCL, all with Greek teams (Aris, Promitheas and PAOK). The big man averaged 8.9 points per game in the BCL 2023-24 season, with PAOK, but scored 10+ points in four of his most recent five games.
Pallacanestro Reggiana vs. Rytas Vilnius (Group F, 20:00 CET)
Pallacanestro Reggiana are back in the BCL for the first time since their debut season in 2022-23. Back then they finished on a 2-4 record but one of those two wins came in their opening game and it was against the eventual champions no less, 88-84 over Telekom Baskets Bonn.
Rytas Vilnius will play in the BCL for the fifth season in a row, never missing out since their debut in 2020-21. The Lithuanian champions have lost their opening game in each of their previous four campaigns in the competition.
Rytas Vilnius are the all-time BCL leaders in offensive rebounds, averaging 13.6 per game (teams that only played in one BCL season are not included). Their best season on the glass was last year, when they led the league in both offensive rebounds (17.3 per game) and total rebounds (42.6 per game).
Reggiana's Cassius Winston averaged 14.9 points and 4.5 assists per game in the 2023-24 BCL with Tofas Bursa. He also made 79 free-throws last season second in the league only behind Anthony Cowan Jr. of Promitheas, who sunk 89 free-throws.
Jayvon Graves of Rytas scored 20 or more points in nine BCL games with MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg last season, more than any other player in 2023-24.
Filou Oostende vs. Unicaja (Group B, 20:30 CET)
Filou Oostende and Unicaja have met twice previously in the BCL, it was in the Round of 16 in 2021-22, with each team winning its home game by margins of more than 15 points.
This will be Filou Oostende’s 9th season in the BCL; they are one of the three teams to have taken part in all editions of the competition, alongside La Laguna Tenerife and AEK Betsson.
This will be Unicaja’s fourth consecutive season in the BCL. They qualified for the Final Four in their each of their last two campaigns, and were crowned champions last season. They have always won their opening game of a BCL season, all of them on the road.
Oostende's Pierre-Antoine Gillet is one of only four players to have surpassed 300 career rebounds in the BCL (309) and to have made more than 100 three-pointers (139 made tripls). The Belgian international hit 2 triples in his only previous encounter with Unicaja in the BCL.
Tyler Kalinoski will compete in the BCL for the fifth season, his third with Unicaja: Kalinoski reached the Final Four in three of his previous four BCL campaigns. He made at least one 3-pointer in each of his last 10 BCL games.
UCAM Murcia vs. Manisa Basket (Group H, 20:30 CET)
This will be UCAM Murcia’s fifth season in the BCL and the third in a row; they have always won their first home game of a BCL season.
Manisa Basket are, alongside Aliaga Petkimspor, one of the two Turkish sides that will make their debut in the BCL this year, bringing the tally of clubs from Türkiye that have appeared in the competition to 13, more than any other country. Eight of the previous 11 Turkish teams won their opening game in the competition.
UCAM Murcia are averaging 16.3 made free-throws per game in the BCL, more than any other team that has taken part in multiple editions of the competition. However, they made fewer free-throws on average than any other team in the 2023-24 Regular Season, 10 per game.
Marko Todorovic is the only UCAM Murcia player to have scored 20 or more points in multiple (three in total) BCL games since the start of the calendar year 2024. The Montenegrin big man also blocked at least one shot in each of his last nine BCL games (1.6 per game in that span).
Martynas Echodas of Manisa has averaged 14.3 points and 6.5 rebounds as a starter in the BCL (all games with Rytas Vilnius). He made 5 or more two-point shots in 11 of his 13 games as a starter in the competition.