MIES (Switzerland) - We have said goodbye to the Regular Season and as usual, the Play-In best-of-three series are coming up next. The first Tuesday of 2025 coincides with four exciting clashes.
Among well-accustomed teams to this stage of the competition and sides that are about to debut dreaming of a spot in the Round of 16, follow us in learning the 24 must-know facts ahead of the first four Play-In matchups.
Aliaga Petkimspor vs. Hapoel Netanel Holon - 18:00 CET
Aliaga Petkimspor have won their most recent two games in the BCL, but are yet to win more on the bounce since they joined the competition; they have won all the four games when allowing fewer than 80 points and have lost both games when allowing more than that.
Hapoel Netanel Holon are in the Play-Ins for the fourth consecutive season in the BCL and have progressed to the next stage in each of the previous three occasions; this will be their second time facing a Turkish team in this phase, after beating Besiktas 2-1 in 2021-22.
Holon are one of the three teams averaging fewer than 17 personal fouls per game in the BCL this season (16.8, also Galatasaray and Tenerife); however, they are one of the five teams that have seen their opponents scoring at least 80 percent of their free-throws (81.5%).
Breein Tyree (Petkimspor) has scored 25 or more points in five different BCL games, while no other player currently in the BCL has had more such games than him (Vojtech Hruban, also five); he will face Holon for the third time in the BCL, having scored more than 25 points in each of his two previous games against them.
Dakarai Tucker (Holon) has scored in double figures in each of his six appearances in the BCL, having also made multiple three-pointers in each of those; he made 63.6 percent of his attempted three-pointers in December (7-of-11).
Suffering back-to-back losses to Besiktas and Galatasaray, Petkimspor bounced back in Türkiye against Buyukcekmece with 20 points from the usual suspect Breein Tyree; Holon had a happy start to 2025 as well, winning by 15 points (87-72) over Kiryat Ata.
Galatasaray vs. Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball - 18:00 CET
Galatasaray have won six of their eight most recent BCL games at home, having scored more than 90 points in seven of those fixtures; this is their second consecutive season in the Play-Ins, as they eliminated Bertram Derthona Basket last season (2-0), winning both games by margins of six points or fewer.
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball have won just one of their last five BCL games, but that sole victory happened in their most recent road match (86-75 at Kolossos); their six games in the competition have ended with double-digit margins.
Saint-Quentin have allowed only 8.7 points per game from second chance situations, the third lowest of any team in the BCL this season; of their total points allowed per game, only 11 percent have been scored from such situations, the lowest ratio of any team in the league in 2024-25.
James Palmer Jr. has scored 14 or more points in each of his three games at home in the BCL this season; in fact, he has scored more than 10 points in each of his six home appearances in this competition.
Dominik Olejniczak (SQBB) is the only player that made at least 60 percent of his field goals in each of the six gamedays in the BCL Regular Season 2024-25. However, the only two games where he failed to reach 10 points were in his last two road appearances.
The Lions are unstoppable this season in Türkiye, as they just got their 8th consecutive win in the domestic competition by taking down Manisa Basket 115-105 in overtime behind Angel Delgado's 19-point, 10-rebound double-double; heading to their debut in the BCL Play-Ins, Saint-Quentin weren't successful on December 27 against Bourg-en-Bresse on the road.
Nanterre 92 vs. Filou Oostende - 20:00 CET
This will be the third BCL encounter between Nanterre 92 and Filou Oostende, with each of the previous two encounters being won by the home team - they met twice in 2017-18 and both games were won by the team trailing at halftime.
Nanterre have won their most recent game in the BCL (87-77 vs. Holon), but have been alternating between wins and losses in their six games in the BCL in 2024-25; Nanterre have won eight of their last nine games in the BCL when allowing fewer than 80 points, including both this season.
This is Oostende's fourth consecutive BCL season competing in the Play-Ins, progressing in 2021-22 and being eliminated in the last two campaigns; they have started the Play-Ins playing away from Belgium in each of the three previous occasions, winning the only game in which they scored more than 75 points.
Desi Rodriguez (Nanterre) has scored more than 10 points in each of his last 12 games in the BCL and is averaging 14.3 points per game when playing at home. He has made exactly five two-pointers in each of his last four BCL games at home.
Timmy Allen (Oostende) has scored 10+ points in each of his six BCL games, averaging 17.2 points per game in the competition; he has scored 20+ points in each of his last two games, played as a starter, after never reaching 20 points in his first four games, played as a bench player.
Nanterre are slowly going back to the LNB Playoffs picture, as they recently beat a former BCL participant in SIG Strasbourg on the road; regardless of their most-recent loss to Spirou Charleroi in the Belgian Basketball Cup, Oostende still advanced to the Semi-Finals thanks to a better points differential.
Bertram Derthona Basket vs. Peristeri Domino's - 20:30 CET
Bertram Derthona Basket have won 10 of their 14 games in the BCL, but two of those defeats happened in the Play-Ins last season; this will be their second time in this phase of the competition after being eliminated by Galatasaray last season (2-0).
Peristeri Domino's have won just two of their last eight BCL games and both those wins happened at home; this is their third consecutive season in the Play-Ins, progressing in 2023-24 and being eliminated in 2022-23 - they have been victorious in one of their three road games in the Play-Ins.
48.2 percent of the points allowed by Derthona in the BCL this season came from the paint, the highest such ratio of all teams; only 12.1 percent of the points scored by Peristeri came from the free-throw line, the lowest such ratio this season.
Arturs Strautins (Derthona) has scored a total of 84 points in his six games in the BCL this season (14.0 per game) after scoring a total of 82 points in his first 17 appearances (4.8 per game). He has made 5+ field goals in four of his six games this season after never making that many in a BCL game before.
Chris Coffey (Peristeri) has scored 10+ points in each of his last two BCL games, but has never enjoyed a longer sequence in the BCL; he has grabbed more than five rebounds in five of his six games this season.
After three consecutive domestic wins, Derthona lost on the road to Naples and haven't clinched their spot for the Italian Cup Final Eight in February; despite Jarell Eddie's 22 points, Peristeri lost their second straight game in the Greek League (PAOK and Panionios), and they are now standing at 5-8 in 8th position.