MIES (Switzerland) - Nothing gets better in sports than games with a prize on the line. In this case, on Tuesday night, two spots in the BCL Round of 16 are up for grabs.
Game 3 of the Play-Ins will feature action in Türkiye and Hungary. But don't tune into it before figuring out every must-know stat, best performances, interesting notes, and domestic results of these four teams.
Galatasaray (1) vs. Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball (1) - 18:00 CET
Galatasaray have won five of their last six home games in the BCL, including Game 1 of these Play-Ins (84-63) and never trailed by more than four points in any of those wins. They have won the first quarter in seven of their last eight home games but also lost the last quarter in seven of their last eight home games.
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball won Game 2 of these Play-Ins (90-79), with their 90 points in that game being their best total in the BCL. However, they are yet to win consecutive games in the competition and each of their eight games ended with a double-digit margin.
42.3 percent of the points allowed by Galatasaray came from three-pointers, more than any other team; Saint-Quentin have averaged only 15.5 two-pointers made per game this season, fewer than any other team.
Will Cummings had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists on Game 2 of these Play-Ins, only the second Galatasaray player with a 20-5-5 game in the BCL (Dee Bost vs. Igokea in November 2021) and the first one to do it while starting on the bench. He has yet to score 20+ points in consecutive games in this competition.
Giovan Oniangue (Saint-Quentin) has scored 15+ points in each of the first two games of these Play-Ins, as often as in his previous 16 appearances. He has made 17 three-pointers, including five in each of his two meetings with Galatasaray, but only three two-pointers in the BCL 2024-25 - no player has ever made 5+ three-pointers in three consecutive BCL games in a row.
Galatasaray aren't in the best of forms entering this do-or-die matchup against Saint-Quentin, as they have lost three straight games between domestic league - lastly 95-81 in the Istanbul derby to Fenerbahce - and BCL; the French team are also coming from a defeat in the LNB, losing 87-83 at home despite Nolan Traore's 19 points and 5 assists.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely (1) vs. Maccabi Ramat-Gan (1) - 18:00 CET
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely have won Game 1 of these Play-Ins (88-81), but have not won consecutive home games in a single BCL season since October-December 2021 (W3); none of their last seven home games ended with a margin of more than 10 points.
Maccabi Ramat-Gan have won three of their last four games in the BCL after winning only one of the first four; only one of their eight games ended with a double-digit margin.
Only three teams have conceded fewer three-pointers per game than Szombathely in the BCL this season (7.4) while only two teams have conceded more three-pointers per game than Ramat-Gan (10.9).
Zoltan Perl (Falco Szombathely) has scored fewer than 15 points in each of his two games in these Play-Ins but has done it in more BCL games in a row only once before, in December 2019-January 2020 (4 games). He has made fewer than 35 percent of his field goals in each of his two games against Ramat-Gan after making more than 35 percent of his field goals in each of his previous 13 BCL games, including nine with a field-goal percentage of at least 50 percent.
Amin Stevens (Ramat-Gan) has made more than 20 points and more than five rebounds in five of his last six BCL games, including in each of his two meetings with Szombathely. Only two players previously had more games with more than 20 points and more than 5 rebounds in a single BCL season: Nick Minnerath (7) in 2016-17 and D.J. Kennedy (6) in 2017-18, but both played more than 15 games in those seasons (Stevens, 8 games played so far in 2024-25).
Szombathely haven't only achieved a perfect 15-0 record so far in the Hungarian top tier, but have also entered the Hungarian Cup Quarter-Finals with an 85-76 against Szolnoki Olaj; Ramat-Gan, instead, will travel to Hungary with a 36-point road defeat on their backs, losing 86-50 to Hapoel Tel Aviv during the weekend.