VILNIUS (Lithuania) - Once you reach the Quarter-Finals of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, the dream of making it to the Final Four is closer than ever.
For Rytas Vilnius and ERA Nymburk, this sensation feels even stronger, as neither of the two has ever made it thus far. Only one of them will advance to Badalona - find out what lies behind this Quarter-Final clash.
How did they get here?
Despite a final loss in Group A of the Regular Season against Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola, Rytas managed to get straight to the Round of 16 by qualifying as the first-seeded team in their group.
Facing Galatasaray MCT Technic, Le Mans Sarthe Basket, and Hapoel Netanel Holon, they ended up 1st in Group I of the Round of 16, edging out Galatasaray and Le Mans a three-way tie at 4-2.
Their 101-81 home win against the French team and the 90-81 road success in Istanbul were crucial to getting the home-court advantage in the Quarter-Finals.
Nymburk's trajectory all the way to the Quarter-Finals, on the other side, wasn't as smooth - to say the least.
Coming off a sensational season in 2024-25, the Czech champions frankly weren't expected to deliver similar performances in Season X, as their campaign started with a slow 1-5 start in the Group Phase, only avoiding elimination and reaching the Play-Ins thanks to a better head-to-head record than Sabah BC.
However, taking down MLP Academics Heidelberg in the Play-Ins before sweeping Pallacanestro Trieste and upsetting Dreamland Gran Canaria on the road in the Round of 16, they still reached the Quarter-Finals.
Have they been here before?
It took them six years, but Rytas have finally reached the Quarter-Finals for the first time in the club's history.
On the other side, Nymburk have previously reached this stage in three different campaigns, getting eliminated by AEK (2019-20), Karsiyaka (2020-21), and Galatasaray (2024-25).
What worked well?
Rytas' offensive capacities have been outstanding all throughout Season X, as evidenced by the numbers.
The Lithuanians are 1st in the whole BCL for points scored per game (93.7), and 2nd in offensive efficiency per game (121.06), only behind the back-to-back champions, Unicaja.
Moreover, this will be a matchup decided by rebounding battles: Nymburk are one of the best teams in the BCL at grabbing them, standing in 2nd position for boards per game (40.9) only behind... Rytas, 1st at 41.5 average rebounds.
The Czech powerhouse, however, are the best at offensive rebounds, collecting 14.9 of them per game - more than any other team in the BCL.
Key matchup
Nymburk know pretty well how dangerous Jerrick Harding can be. They all remember his skillset back when he was playing in Czechia, from 2020 to 2022 - when he had 20.8 points per game.
Everybody quickly figured out how crucial he would have been for Rytas as well since the very first game in the Group Phase, against Legia Warszawa. He had a dominant 20-point showcase before suffering a serious injury.
Once he returned to action, he started propelling Rytas all the way to the Quarter-Finals. Among the teams that made it to the Round of 16, he's the best scorer with 19.0 points per game. And he wants to keep going.
Having to deal with the departure of Sir' Jabari Rice, who's still 5th among the best scorers of the league at 18.6 points per game, Nymburk found reinforcement in the backcourt with Tony Perkins.
Joining the team during the season after starting the 2025-26 campaign in Lithuania with Nevezis and Italy with Treviso, he has been posting 10.2 and 4.2 assists per game.
Don't forget he can also be an X-Factor on the defensive end, locking down offensive masters such as Jerrick Harding. He has collected 2.6 steals per game since joining Nymburk.
X Factors
Unless you have lived under a rock for the past few months, Ignas Sargiunas has been an absolute sensation this season.
Back in November, he saved the Lithuanian national team with nine points in nine seconds against Great Britain. A few days ago, Rytas' No.43 put up 43 points over 9-of-9 from deep against Lietkabelis.
The 26-year-old sharpshooter has been an important asset in the BCL too, alongside his countryman and backcourt partner Simonas Lukosius.
Over the last three games in the Round of 16, they respectively put up 18.3 and 15.6 points per game. Moreover, Lukosius has been voted Player of the Week on back-to-back occasions.
As anticipated before, this matchup will also be featured by rim battles, and we can't think of two better centers who do so than Rytas' Arturas Gudaitis and Nymburk's Marcus Santos Silva.
On one side, the Lithuanian veteran who's averaging 10.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game; on the other, the best rebounder (8.8 per game) among the Round of 16 teams, and the best offensive rebounder (4.2) overall.
Finally, on the Czech side, you can never underestimate the impact of a local hero like Ondrej Sehnal, who's been with the team since 2022.
At the same time, the Croatian international Goran Filipovic has brought a new offensive dimension to Oren Amiel's team, putting up 18.0 points and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.
How are they doing recently?
TEAM | LAST 10 GAMES | DOMESTIC RECORD |
|---|---|---|
Rytas Vilnius | 8-2 in all competitions | 13-8 (2nd) in the Lithuanian League |
ERA Nymburk | 7-3 in all competitions | 26-4 (1st) in the Czech League |