Tuesday Focus: Week 2

MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) – The second week of action in the FIBA Europe Cup will start with an early tip-off in Krasnoyarsk that will be followed by seven more games on Tuesday.

Two powerhouses of the competition in Enisey Krasnoyarask and Demir Insaat Buyukcekmece will begin their Group H duel already at 14:10 CET, with more intriguing action happening later in the evening.

An interesting storyline to follow will be Telekom Baskets making their FIBA Europe Cup debut against Sodertalje Kings at 19:30 CET after being the team to sit out Week 1 in the three-team Group C.

All of the games will be streamed FREE and live on youtube.com/FIBA – make sure you tune in!

Enisey v Buyukcekmece | 14:10 CET

The early game of the day will feature two Group H teams that started their FIBA Europe Cup campaign on the right note last week, as Enisey welcome Buyukcekmece in Krasnoyarsk.

Several time zones away, the Russian club has a home court advantage of a magnitude probably incomparable to anyone else in the league. Having lost only twice at home in the FIBA Europe Cup last season, Enisey will hope to replicate similar form this year as well.

However, Buyukcekmece have plenty of weapons on its roster to make up for the difficulties of playing so far away from home.

In the first week of action, the Istanbul club registered the biggest win of all so far by crushing Sigal Prishtina 100-58 behind a well-rounded team performance.

Five players scored in double figures for the Turkish team, with Angelo Caloiaro pacing his teammates by making all eight of his field goals for a total of 18 points.

What really stands out for Buyukcekmece is that all players but one made at least a single assist, with the entire squad combining for 28 dimes altogether.

The first victory was significantly more difficult for Enisey, who edged Rilski Sportist only 85-81 on the road in Bulgaria in a game that could have very well had a different ending.

Having outrebounded their opponents 46-31, the Russian side dominated by brute force under the rims and Frank Elegar was the biggest factor in that, finishing the game with 17 points and 9 rebounds.

Enisey will hopefully have fine-tuned its aim for their home opener after going only 5-of-26 from three-point range in the game against Rilski Sportist.

Telekom Baskets v Sodertalje Kings | 19:30 CET

Telekom Baskets will begin its Group C battles on Tuesday after being one of three teams in the FIBA Europe Cup to sit out Week 1 due to an uneven number of teams in the group.

For the German club, the first test comes in the shape of early-season group leaders Sodertalje Kings who took care of Belfius Mons-Hainaut 80-68 in the first game of the season.

Telekom Baskets will need to put their defensive focus on Croatian big man Toni Bizaca who was the star of the team in the FIBA Europe Cup last year and started the new campaign with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals.

The contrasts were stark for the Kings against Mons-Hainaut. On the one hand, the Swedish side made 65% of two-point field goal attempts, but went only 4-of-22 from beyond the arc.

Sodertalje coach Vedran Bosnic will hope to fix the balance, but executing against Telekom Baskets could prove a difficult task.

The only reference point to Bonn’s game currently is their 4-2 record in the German Bundesliga, where Predrag Krunic’s team climbed to sixth position after winning their last two games.

Averaging 18.7 points per game, Ryan Thompson stands out as the go-to scorer on the German team. Meanwhile, big man Filip Barovic is collecting 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest in just under an average of 20 minutes.

Telekom Baskets also seemingly struck gold in their short-term signing of Ojars Silins who has averaged 12.3 points and 4 assists in three starts for the club.

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