MIES (Switzerland) - Do you have anything planned for Wednesday night? If not, we would be pleased to invite you to an exciting three-game menu in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
Featuring action from Group B in Poland, from Group C in Hungary, and from Group H in Germany, there are plenty of things to focus on. To help you out, here are 18 must-know facts, stats, and weekend results.
Legia Warszawa vs. Galatasaray MCT Technic - Group B, 18:00 CET
Legia Warszawa will play their first home games in the BCL this season, but they lost each of their first six games played in their arena before; they had either led (three times) or been level at halftime (twice) in each of their last five home games before losing all of those.
Galatasaray MCT Technic have lost their last three road games in the BCL after winning the previous seven; they have conceded more than 95 points in each of their last two games away from home, their first such run in the competition.
Galatasaray are conceding 45.8 percent of the three-pointers they have faced in the BCL this season, more than any other team, but Legia have conceded a competition-high 63.6 percent on two-point attempts.
Kristers Zoriks has scored more than 12 points in each of his last six BCL games and has been Legia's top scorer or joint-top scorer in both their two BCL appearances this season, dropping 13 points against SIG Strasbourg and 21 against Cibona.
Galatasaray’s Alen Smailagic is one of only four players to have come off the bench and to have scored more than 12 points in each of the first two game days in the BCL this season; Smailagic is shooting 53.8 percent from the field, 50 percent from deep and 100 percent from the foul line.
During the weekend in Poland, Legia lost the Warszawa derby, suffering the 92-77 home defeat to Dziki; led by Smailagic, who had 20 points and 5 rebounds on 6-of-8 from the field, Galatasaray beat Denizli Basket 87-74 on the road.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely vs. AEK BC - Group C, 18:00 CET
Falco Vulcano Szombathely have won their previous two meetings with AEK BC in the BCL during the 2021-22 Regular Season; they won their last game (85-72 at home vs. Salon Vilpas) after losing their previous seven.
AEK lost their last game, 103-76 against Windrose Giants Antwerp, but they haven't lost back-to-back BCL games in the Regular Season since October-November 2022 (L2 vs. Telekom Baskets Bonn).
AEK are the only team allowing more than 20 average points per game from fastbreak situations in the BCL this season (27.5); in fact, they have conceded more than 25 points from fastbreaks in each of their two games in this campaign, as often as in their first 156 games in the competition.
Zoltan Perl has a total of 986 points scored in the BCL and might become the sixth different player to reach the 1000-point club; Perl has scored more than 20 points in each of his two BCL games this season but has never gone on a longer scoring spell in his 58 appearances in the competition.
Landers Nolley II scored 23 points in his most recent BCL game, being AEK's top scorer against Windrose Giants Antwerp; despite having the highest average Efficiency Rating amongst all AEK players with two games (13.5 EFF), he has the joint-second lowest +/- (-13 per game).
While Falco didn't play during the weekend in Hungary, AEK lost 94-85 to Vikos Falcons BC away from Athens despite Giannoulis Larentzakis' effort of 23 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Telekom Baskets Bonn vs. Bnei Penlink Herzliya - Group H, 20:00 CET
Telekom Baskets Bonn have won their last four home games in the BCL Regular Season, but each of the last three ended with a margin of fewer than five points; they won two of their previous three home games against teams from Israel in the competition.
Bnei Penlink Herzliya have lost six of their seven games played as the road team in the BCL, including the most recent four, with six of those seven games ending with a margin of greater than 10 points.
Only Nanterre 92 (24.0) are making more two-pointers per game than Bnei Herzliya (23.0) in the BCL this season. 61.7 percent of their total points came from the two-point range, the highest ratio of all teams this season.
Jeff Garrett has scored 17 or more points in each of his last three games in the BCL while also grabbing 5+ rebounds in each of those fixtures, which includes a 17-point and 5-rebound performance in his league debut with Bonn.
D.J. Brewton III (Bnei Herzliya) has scored 20 or more points in each of his first two games in the BCL, but before this season only eight players have scored 20+ points in each of their first three league appearances.
John-Michael Wright had 22 points on 5-of-9 from beyond the arc to inspire Bonn's 95-88 win against ALBA BERLIN; Bnei Herzliya had the 97-87 road defeat to Ironi Kiryat Ata despite Zach Bryant's 22 points.