MIES (Switzerland) - Wednesdays can be dope if you have eight games to follow in Season X, powered by Ameresco SUNEL. That's why you shouldn't do anything else but follow this program.
You just need to sit back, relax, grab some snacks, and enjoy the action. But first, let's go through 48 must-know facts, interesting stats, scoring achievements, and domestic results from the various teams playing.
Sabah BC vs. ALBA BERLIN - Group B, October 15 at 18:00 CET
Sabah BC lost their first BCL game 65-93 last week against ERA Nymburk; they will look to avoid becoming the second team to lose their opening two BCL games by 20+ points, after Kolossos in 2024-25.
ALBA BERLIN lost 76-81 their first BCL game, against Elan Chalon last week; before this year, only three of the previous nine German teams lost their first two games, the most recent one being Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2017-18.
ALBA made seven blocks last week against Chalon, more than any team in the first gameday of this BCL season. Sabah were one of the eight teams that suffered 5+ blocks last week (5).
Sabah's Jean-Marc Pansa had 13 points and 10 rebounds last week against Nymburk, his first double-double in his 24 BCL appearances; he has made 17 of his last 21 two-pointers in the competition (81%).
Boogie Ellis (ALBA) scored 27 points and added 7 rebounds last week against Chalon, the first player younger than 25 years old to have more than 25 points and more than 5 rebounds in his BCL debut (24y 300d).
ALBA lost to Würzburg 96-92 on the road despite five players in double-digits, including Jack Kayil (11 points and 10 assists); Sabah, instead, had an amazing 133-65 victory over Baku as Jean-Marc Pansa had a monster double-double of 27 points and 15 rebounds.
MLP Academics Heidelberg vs. Rytas Vilnius - Group A, October 15 at 18:30 CET
MLP Academics Heidelberg lost 83-89 against Promitheas Patras Vikos Cola last week for their first BCL appearance; before this year, only three of the previous nine German teams lost their first two games, the most recent one being Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2017-18.
Rytas Vilnius won 83-85 last week against Legia Warszawa, but they have never won their first two games of a BCL season before; they have won their last two away games played in the BCL Regular Season (at Falco Szombathely and Slask Wroclaw), their first winning run away from home at that stage.
Rytas scored 26 points from fastbreak situations last week against Legia, the most among all teams in the opening round of this BCL season. Heidelberg conceded 25 points from fastbreaks last week against Promitheas.
DJ Horne was Heidelberg's top scorer last week against Promitheas (22pts); however, he also had five turnovers, a joint-high for a player in the first gameday this season.
Jordan Walker has scored 12+ points in each of his eight BCL games, including 17 points last week against Legia in his first game with Rytas; he has averaged 26.3 points per game when playing on the road and 18.5 points when playing at home in the BCL.
Both Heidelberg (90-79 on the road against Rostock Seawolves) and Rytas (89-84 away from home against Lietkabelis) suffered defeats over the weekend, respectively in Germany and Lithuania.
AEK BC vs. NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz - Group F, October 15 at 18:30 CET
AEK BC have won their last eight home games in the BCL Regular Season, scoring 80+ points in the most recent seven; they won their first home game in each of the last two BCL seasons.
NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz won last week 84-54 against Patrioti Levice, their biggest win in the BCL; they will attempt to win consecutive games for the first time in the competition. However, they suffered their joint-heaviest defeat in the BCL during a trip to AEK, 49-92 in the very first gameday of the competition, in October 2016.
NHSZ-Szolnoki grabbed 37 defensive rebounds last week against Levice, the most of all teams in Gameday 1 of this BCL season. It was also the first time that they grabbed 30+ defensive rebounds in a BCL game.
Dimitrios Katsivelis was the only AEK player to score 10+ points last week in their win against VEF Riga (13 pts) and also recorded the most rebounds for his team (6); his teams have won 12 of their last 13 home games in which he has played in the BCL.
Adam Somogyi had his best totals of points (15) and rebounds (6) in a BCL game during Gameday 1 of this season, against Levice, for his 13th appearance in the competition. He also added 6 assists, becoming only the third player to have a 15/5/5 with NHSZ-Szolnoki in a game in the competition (also David Vojvoda & James Kinney).
Chris Silva flirted with a double-double by finishing with 24 points and 9 rebounds against Panionios in AEK's 93-73 win, while Auston Barnes (22 points) inspired NHSZ-Szolnoki's 94-70 victory over Szedeak in Hungary.
Legia Warszawa vs. Promitheas Patras Vikos Cola - Group A, October 15 at 20:00 CET
Legia have lost each of their previous three home games in the BCL, despite leading at the end of the third quarter in two of those games. Legia scored 85 points against Rytas during GD1 and will try to score 80+ points in back-to-back BCL games for the first time.
Promitheas have won three of their last four away games in the BCL Regular Season after losing the previous four; only two of their 13 away games in the Regular Season ended with a margin of greater than 10 points.
Promitheas made the most free throws among all teams last week in the BCL (30) and thus, were the only team to see at least a third of their points being scored from the line (33.7%). Legia made 27 fouls on Gameday 1, a joint-high alongside Benfica.
Shane Hunter had 11 points and 10 rebounds last week against Rytas, only the second player to have a double-double with Legia in the BCL (Geoff Groselle vs. Galatasaray in December 2022). He was also the first player to register a double-double while coming from the bench in his BCL debut since Dusan Ristic in January 2023 (18pts, 11reb with Galatasaray vs. Limoges).
Rob Gray (Promitheas) has scored 12+ points in each of his 10 BCL games with 20+ minutes played, averaging 19.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.9 steals per game in that span. He made multiple three-pointers in seven of those games.
The two teams are heading to this clash with positive domestic results, as Legia beat Twarde Pierniki 82-67 on the road and Promitheas had the best of Maroussi 93-88 with Kendale McCullum's 19 points and 6 assists.
Pallacanestro Trieste vs. Galatasaray MCT Technic - Group E, October 15 at 21:00 CET
Pallacanestro Trieste lost 63-78 last week against Fitness First Würzburg Baskets; before this year, only two of the 11 Italian teams that took part in the competition lost their first two games, Capo d’Orlando in 2017-18 and Fortitudo Bologna in 2020-21.
Galatasaray MCT Technic have won six of their last seven games in the BCL, including last week against Igokea m:tel (94-82), and each of their last six games ended with a double-digit margin.
Trieste attempted the joint-most three-pointers among all teams last week in the BCL (35 – also ALBA), however, Galatasaray were joint-third with 34 attempts from behind the arc.
Jahmi'us Ramsey was the youngest Trieste player last week against Würzburg (24y 120d), but he scored at least 10 more points than any of his teammates during that game (18), making all his five 2PA in the process.
Fabian White Jr (Galatasaray) has scored 15+ points in each of his last nine BCL games and will attempt to become the third player to do it in 10 games in a row (DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell & Zoltan Perl); he made six three-pointers last week against Igokea after never making more than three in a BCL game before.
Trieste and Galatasaray had victories away from home during the weekend: the Italians won 84-79 on the road in Napoli and the red-and-yellow Lions beat Petkimspor 80-75 in Smirne with Errick McCollum's 21 points.
Filou Oostende vs. Mersin Sports Club - Group G, October 15 at 21:00 CET
Filou Oostende have lost their last three Regular Season games in the BCL but they have lost four in a row at that stage only once before, it was in December 2016-January 2017; they have lost seven of their nine home games against teams from Türkiye in the BCL.
Mersin Sports Club lost 66-97 last week against Unicaja, only two teams had a heavier defeat in their BCL debut (NHSZ-Szolnoki 49-92 vs. AEK in October 2016 & Fortitudo 63-100 vs. Brose Bamberg in October 2020); before this year, only two teams from Türkiye have lost their first two games in the competition (Muratbey Usak in 2016-17 and Bursaspor in 2023-24).
Pierre-Antoine Gillet (Oostende) is the only player to have played a game in each of the 10 BCL seasons. He has scored more than 15 points in three of his last four home games against Turkish teams.
Oostende's Noam Yaacov became last week the youngest player combining for more than 25 points and more than 5 dimes in a BCL game, as no one did that before turning 23 years old previously (27pts, 8ast – 20y 353d). He made 13 free throws, more than any player last week.
Anthony Cowan (Mersin) has averaged 20.1 points and 6.0 assists per game in his seven BCL appearances as a starter; however, he failed to score a 3-pointer last week for the first time in a game as a starter in the competition (0-of-6).
Noam Yaacov confirmed his status once again during the weekend, contributing to Oostende's 86-76 win over Donar in the BNXT League with 15 points and 5 assists; Mersin, instead, weren't successful as they lost 72-69 on the road against Bahcesehir.
Dreamland Gran Canaria vs. Le Mans Sarthe Basket - Group H, October 15 at 21:00 CET
Dreamland Gran Canaria won by a 37-point margin last week against Benfica (98-61), the second-biggest victory ever by any team in their BCL debut (AEK +43 in October 2016 vs. Szolnoki).
Le Mans Sarthe Basket have lost their last four games in the BCL but have lost more in succession only once before (6 in January 2017-October 2018); they have lost their previous two trips to Spain in the BCL.
Le Mans made only six turnovers last week, fewer than any other team in gameday 1 of this BCL season; consequently, they conceded fewer points from turnover than any team last week (2).
Ziga Samar (Gran Canaria) had 10 assists off the bench in his BCL debut last week against Benfica, only the fifth player in league history to accomplish that. Only four players have managed to make 10+ assists in each of their first two BCL appearances previously: Marques Green, Chris Wright, Andrea Cinciarini, and Marek Klassen.
Three of the four times David Di Leo (Le Mans) scored 10+ points in the BCL were during his last three away games; he has made at least one three-pointer in eight of his nine BCL games, averaging 2.1 three-pointers per game in the competition.
Gran Canaria and Le Mans are both eager to get back on track following domestic defeats, respectively to Unicaja (81-72 at home) in the ACB and ASVEL (91-66 on the road) in the LNB.
SL Benfica vs. KK Spartak Office Shoes - Group H, October 15 at 21:30 CET
SL Benfica have only won two of their last 16 games in the BCL, with both those wins coming at home, and only two games in that span ended with a single-digit margin; they suffered their first defeat by a 30+ point margin in the competition (61-98 v Dreamland Gran Canaria).
KK Spartak Office Shoes won by a single-point margin their first BCL game, which was last week against Le Mans (74-73). They will attempt to become the first team from Serbia to win their first two games in the competition.
KK Spartak (0) and SL Benfica (3) were the two teams that scored the fewest points from fastbreak situations last week in the BCL.
Koby McEwen (Benfica) scored 17 points last week against Gran Canaria, at least 10 more points than any of his teammates; he made three three-pointers in that game while all the other Benfica players combined for four three-pointers.
Olivier Hanlan (KK Spartak) had 15 points and 5 assists last week against Le Mans, only the second time in his 22 BCL appearances that he had 15+ points and 5+ assists; the last time he scored 15+ points in consecutive games was back in November 2016 when he did that in four games in a row with Le Mans.
It was a derby weekend for Benfica in the Portuguese League, and they didn't disappoint by beating Sporting 103-66 on the road with six players in double-digits; KK Spartak, instead, hosted BC Vienna for the 79-66 victory in the ABA League.