1 Oct 2024
    11 May 2025

    Morning After: Somewhere between Steph Curry and TJ Shorts

    Short Read
    Darius Mc Ghee has landed in Europe with a bang

    Last night was too hectic and things got out of hand? Don't worry, the Morning After saves the day, as we take you through the main talking points of the night before.

    Author
    Igor Curkovic

    MIES (Switzerland) - Week 3 action in the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League Regular Season continued on Tuesday, and there were plenty of highlights on a four-game evening. This is what we learned last night.

    New fan favorite in Bonn

    Back in 2022, Chima Moneke was named the Basketball Champions League's Most Valuable Player, and it seemed like the height of aura in terms of MVPs in this league. Then, he told us to look out for TJ Shorts II, who was his college teammate and was about to join Telekom Baskets Bonn that summer.

    Boy, was Chima right... TJ was out of this world, set all kinds of records en route to a perfect BCL season, stunning the hosts of the Final Four in Malaga, defeating Unicaja in the Semi-Finals, and carrying on to win the BCL, edging out Hapoel Jerusalem in the championship game a couple of days later.

    He was named both the MVP of the Season and the Final Four MVP, a unique feat in the nine-season long history of this competition.

    When he left Bonn to unlock new achievements in his career, the Germans had a hard time figuring out who's the next face of the club. A couple of seasons later, it seems they finally have found him.

    Meet Darius McGhee. A 25-year-old rookie in European terms, born in Roxboro, North Carolina, went to school there before moving to Virginia, and later went to college and played with the Liberty Flames.

    He broke all sorts of records with the Flames and tied one other in his final college season in 2022-23. With 162 three-pointers made, he equaled Steph Curry's NCAA single-season record set in 2008.

    Fitting, because on Tuesday night, he looked like Steph Curry.

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    The 175 cm (5ft 9in) tall point guard came off the bench against AEK Betsson BC in the battle of former champions, and he scored at will. Off balance runners - check. Drives to the rim - check. Long range three-pointers - check.

    Off balance, left-handed, and-one three-pointers - check wait what!?

    That's right. Darius McGhee made a left-handed three-pointer while being fouled during his 23-point torment of AEK's defense, and yes, that's right, he is right-handed.

    He's the third player debuting in the BCL this season to have scored 23 or more in both of his games so far, joining Saben Lee and Zac Seljaas.

    Read about their performances here

    Morning After: Who has Lee joined in the BCL's 40-point club?

    Morning After: Vokuhila Killa and Fener II's top scorer as BCL's leading one-two punch

    Before this season, only five guys had such a strong scoring start to their BCL careers, including a certain diminutive Bonn point guard named TJ Shorts II.

    McGhee is still dishing out assists left and right, and alongside Shorts, Khalif Wyatt and Tyrese Rice, he's the fourth player to get 20+ points and 5+ assists in his first two BCL games.

    Not a bad company to be in. Actually, exactly the kind of company you need when you're just starting your European career.

    Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V Kamagate

    Bertram Derthona Basket brought in Ismael Kamagate in January 2024, the idea probably being to give the 23-year-old center some consistency to help him improve his career during his loan from Olimpia Milano.

    Now, Kamagate is the one giving Derthona consistency. He had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks in his first BCL game, then followed it up with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks in his second BCL game this Tuesday.

    The Italians are off to a 2-0 start here, and Kamagate has averaged 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the Italian League, too. The loan looking like a win-win-win situation, with Derthona, Kamagate and Olimpia all profiting from his run this season.

    Quick notes

    • Bertram Derthona Basket scored 102 points against BAXI Manresa, a new club-high in a BCL game and the most by an Italian team in the competition since November 2019 when Dinamo Sassari had 113 against Torun. This is also Derthona's largest victory ever in the competition, after none of their previous six was decide by a margin higher than 8 points.

    • Telekom Baskets Bonn scored 34 points in the 4th quarter, the second most for Bonn in the last 10 minutes of a BCL game, after tallying 36 against Happy Casa Brindisi in December 2019.

    • AEK Betsson BC lost by a margin of 19 points, their heaviest defeat ever in a Regular Season game in BCL history.

    • Nolan Traore (Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball) is the first player under 20 years old to have posted at least 10 points and 5 assists in each of his first two games in the BCL. He had 11 points and 6 assists against Karsiyaka.

    • Karsiyaka’s Errick McCollum (21 points, 6 assists on Tuesday) had a game of more than 20 points and 5 assists for the second time in his 24 BCL games, after a game against UCAM Murcia in January 2023.

    • Ismael Kamagate (Derthona) has blocked exactly 5 shots in each of his two games in the BCL – he is the first player ever to have blocked 4 or more shots in each of his first two appearances in the competition.

    • Arturs Strautins has scored more than 15 points in each of his two BCL games with Bertram Derthona Basket this season, after never scoring that many points in any of his previous 17 appearances in the competition.

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