MIES (Switzerland) - Group Phase? Done. Play-Ins? Done. Season X in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, continues: here comes the Round of 16.
Four games are scheduled on Tuesday night, two of them from a stacked Group L. As usual, before tipping off this new stage of the season, we prepared 24 must-know facts ahead of Tuesday's action.
Tofas Bursa vs. ALBA Berlin - Group J, 18:00 CET
Tofas Bursa have won their last three home games in the BCL, their second-longest winning run at home in the competition (W4 in November 2021-March 2022); they have won six of their last seven home games in the Round of 16.
ALBA Berlin have won their last five games in the BCL and are yet to taste defeat away from home in the competition (W3); they have scored 100+ points in each of their last two BCL games, but only Cluj Napoca in 2021-22 have had a longer scoring sequence, doing it in three straight games.
ALBA (42.0) and Tofas (40.9) are the teams scoring the most points in the paint per game in the BCL this season. In fact, 48.8 percent of Tofas’ total points came from the paint, the highest percentage of all teams, while ALBA Berlin have the 4th highest (45.9%).
Marek Blazevic (Tofas) has had more than 20 points and more than 5 rebounds in three games in the BCL this season, more than any other player. He made 10-of-11 two-pointers attempted in his last game (91%) - no player has scored more points in the paint than him this term (90 – also Shevon Thompson).
Norris Agbakoko has scored 12+ points in each of his last three BCL games with ALBA, his longest scoring spell in the competition; he has made one steal in each of his last four games in the league, after tallying just one in his previous 11 appearances.
Visiting Fenerbahce, Tofas lost 90-82 against the yellow-and-blue side; ALBA, instead, had a successful road weekend against Rasta Vechta, winning 95-83 away from Berlin.
Rytas Vilnius vs. Hapoel Netanel Holon - Group I, 18:30 CET
Rytas Vilnius have won 12 of their last 14 home games in the BCL and each of their three this season. They have scored 90+ points in eight of their last 10 home games, including in their three this season.
Hapoel Netanel Holon have won their last three games in the BCL Round of 16, each by margins of fewer than five points, after winning only two of the previous nine.
Rytas are dominating the paint at both ends of the floor, collecting 78 percent of available rebounds on the defensive glass and 40.6 percent on the offensive boards — both the highest figures in the BCL this season.
Jerrick Harding has scored 20 or more points in three of his four BCL games with Rytas – overall he has a total of 14 such games in league history, while only four other players have had more such scoring performances than him: Levi Randolph (18), Zoltan Perl (17), Marcus Foster (17), and Kevin Punter (15).
Idan Zalmanson (Holon) has scored 12+ points in each of his last two BCL games, after doing it in only three of his previous 31 games played in the competition. His highest scoring performance in the BCL happened in his most recent road game (23 pts vs. Bursaspor).
Thanks to seven players scoring in double-digits, Rytas beat Siauliai 99-94 in the King Mindaugas Cup; Holon lost 88-83 on the road against Maccabi Tel Aviv despite Jordan McRae's 23 points.
Dreamland Gran Canaria vs. Pallacanestro Trieste - Group L, 21:00 CET
Dreamland Gran Canaria have won their six games in the BCL and have allowed fewer than 70 points in each of their three home games in the competition. They will try to become only the second team to win their first seven games in the BCL, after Virtus Bologna in 2018-19.
Pallacanestro Trieste have won their last three road games in the BCL after losing the first two; two of their three road wins came with margins of only one point.
Gran Canaria have allowed only 70.8 points per game in the BCL this season, fewer than any other team; they have also seen their opponents making only 11.3 free throws per game, fewer than against any other team.
Nicolas Brussino has scored more than 15 points in each of his last three BCL games with Gran Canaria, the longest scoring sequence in his 59 games played in the competition; Brussino has been on the winning side in 19 of his last 20 BCL games playing for the home team.
Jahmi'us Ramsey (Trieste) has scored 17+ points in each of his last three games in the BCL after reaching that mark in only two of his first six; he has the best accuracy from two-point range among all players this season (77.2%, min 30 2PA) and made each of his eight two-pointers attempted last week against NHSZ Szolnoki Olajbanyasz.
Gran Canaria lost 68-50 at home to Hiopos Lleida; Trieste didn't play during the weekend.
La Laguna Tenerife vs. ERA Nymburk - Group L, 21:00 CET
La Laguna Tenerife have lost their last two games in the BCL, including their last game at home (80-83 vs. Trapani Shark), but have never lost three games in a row or two home games in a row in the competition.
ERA Nymburk have won seven of their eight road games played in the Round of 16 in the BCL, including their last four; each of those eight games ended with a double-digit margin. This will be their third BCL game against Tenerife, with the two previous matchups being won by the road team of the day.
Nymburk have grabbed 15.4 offensive rebounds per game in the BCL this season, more than any other team, while Tenerife have the lowest average of points scored from second-chance situations per game (6.8).
Six of the seven players with over 100 BCL games played could feature in this matchup: Tenerife’s Tim Abromaitis (120), Bruno Fitipaldo (108), Aaron Doornekamp (105), and Giorgi Shermadini (104), along with Nymburk’s duo Vojtech Hruban (109) and Martin Kriz (102). The game could also feature all three players who have scored more than 1200 BCL points: Giorgi Shermadini (1339), Marcelinho Huertas (1243), and Vojtech Hruban (1238).
Jaromir Bohacik (Nymburk) scored 23 points in his last game, against MLP Academics Heidelberg, but has never scored 20+ points in consecutive BCL games; he has never scored more than 10 points in any of his four games against Tenerife in the competition.
Tenerife didn't finish on a winning note during the weekend either in the ACB, losing 95-78 in Bilbao; Nymburk had an astonishing 109-79 road win against USK Praha.