MIES (Switzerland) - One all-Greek clash, Cinderellas making their way deep into the competition, high-tempo and physicality-first encounters, favorites and underdogs.
The opening Wednesday night of this season's Basketball Champions League Round of 16 is all about that. Find out 30 stats, notes, domestic results, and a lot more before tuning into these games!
AEK Betsson BC vs. Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola - Group I, 18:00 CET
AEK Betsson BC have lost their previous two meetings with Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola in the BCL. It was already during a Round of 16, in 2023-24 (79-80 on the road and then 67-79 at home); AEK have lost their last four home games in the Round of 16 after losing only two of the first nine.
Promitheas have won their last two road games in the BCL, but are yet to win three in a row in the competition; the team leading at halftime managed to win the game in Promitheas's last six road games in the BCL.
Promitheas have allowed their opponents to grab 15.6 offensive rebounds per game in the BCL this season, more than any other team while only FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets (7.0) have allowed their opponents to grab fewer offensive rebounds than AEK (8.8).
The former Promitheas player, Hunter Hale, now with AEK, has averaged 18.1 points per game in his last nine BCL appearances; he scored 20+ points in three of his six Round of 16 games last season with Promitheas.
Kenny Williams (Promitheas) has scored more than 20 points in two of his 42 games in the BCL and both were during the Round of 16 last season, with Peristeri; in fact, his best scoring game was when playing away from home in that round, 25 points at La Laguna Tenerife in January 2024.
Both AEK and Promitheas were called up to the biggest of challenges in the Greek League, respectively facing Olympiacos (on the road in Piraeus) and Panathinaikos (at home in Patras): they both lost, but Promitheas had 22 points a piece from Jordan Davis and Jordon Varnado, while AEK had four players (Hunter Hale, C.J. Bryce, Grant Golden, and Raiquan Gray) finishing in double-digits.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely vs. ERA Nymburk - Group L, 18:00 CET
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely have won their last two home games in the BCL, but have not won more in succession since a run of four home wins between December 2020 and December 2021; none of their last eight home games ended with a margin of greater than 10 points.
ERA Nymburk have won their last four road games in the BCL and in case of a win, they would equal their longest winning run away from home in the competition (W5 in 2019-20); they have won seven of their last eight games played in the Round of 16.
Nymburk are allowing on average 25.3 points in the paint per game in the BCL this season, fewer than any other team, while only three teams are conceding more points in the paint per game than Szombathely (38.0).
Zoltan Perl (Szombathely) has scored 20+ points in five of his last seven BCL home games, averaging 22.0 points per game in that span; he scored more than 20 points in each of his previous two home games in the Round of 16.
Martin Kriz has played 86 BCL games and could become the player with the most games played with Nymburk in the competition if he features in that game (currently tied with Petr Benda); among the players who have played in the BCL with only one team, only Aaron Doornekamp (89 with Tenerife) has more appearances than Kriz.
Whether it's Hungary or Czechia, there are only two giants standing on top of the respective domestic leagues. Falco stays unbeaten at 16-0 after beating Szedeak by 20 points (95-75), while Francesco Tabellini's team improved to 21-2 following the 36-point margin win (97-61) over Sokol Pisek.
Rytas Vilnius vs. Galatasaray - Group J, 18:30 CET
Rytas Vilnius have won their last five games in the BCL, their best winning run in the competition; they have won 11 of their last 13 home games in the BCL and won the three played this year by margins of 10+ points.
Galatasaray have lost all their previous nine road games in the Round of 16 of the BCL, despite leading at halftime in four of those games; they have allowed 80+ points in seven of those nine road games played at that stage.
Rytas (28.8) and Galatasaray (27.8) are the teams grabbing on average the most defensive rebounds per game in the BCL this season; Rytas have also averaged the most points in the paint per game (45.0) but Galatasaray are one of the five teams that are conceding fewer than 30 points in the paint per game (29.8).
Steven Enoch (Rytas) has made 76.2 percent of his two-pointers attempted in the BCL this season, the best 2PTS percentage among the players with 35+ attempts. He has grabbed 5+ rebounds in each of his last five games in the competition.
Will Cummings (Galatasaray) had 20+ points and 5+ rebounds in each of his last two BCL games, as often as in his first 25 appearances; he has made multiple steals in each of his last four BCL games. However, he won't be available to start this season's Round of 16 due to injury.
Opposite results for Rytas and Galatasaray entering the Round of 16. The Lithuanians are second only to Zalgiris Kaunas after beating Jonava 84-80, while the Turkish Lions suffered their third straight domestic league defeat by losing 78-73 at home to Turk Telekom - despite Otis Livingston's 23 points.
Unicaja vs. Manisa Basket - Group J, 20:30 CET
Unicaja have won their last 16 games in the BCL, the longest-ever winning run for a team in the competition history, and have seen an average margin of victory of 29.0 points in their last five games; they have won their last seven home games played in the Round of 16, scoring 85+ points in each of the most recent four.
Manisa Basket have won three of their four road games in the BCL, however, those three wins all ended with margins of six points or fewer; they have allowed at least 84 points in each of their four road games in the competition (92.0 on average).
Unicaja are averaging 1.31 points per possession in the BCL this season, more than any team, while Manisa rank fourth, with 1.21 points per possession; however, only Kolossos H Hotels and King Szczecin (both 1.21) averaged more points allowed per possession than Manisa this term (1.18), while Unicaja are one of the two teams allowing fewer than one point per possession on average (0.99, Tenerife 0.98).
Tyson Carter (Unicaja) has scored 15+ points in three of his last four BCL games, as often as in his previous 22 appearances; he made exactly four three-pointers in each of his last two games after never reaching that total in any of his first 35 appearances in the competition with Unicaja.
Saben Lee (Manisa) has averaged 35.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game in his three road appearances in the BCL, making at least 12 free-throws in each of those three games. This is the first time that a player has an average of 30+ points over a three-game span while playing away from home in the competition (excl. neutral venues).
Unicaja is indeed beatable, in the end: after seven consecutive wins between BCL and ACB, Ibon Navarro's team had to surrender to Basquet Girona; on the other side, Manisa found their first victory in the Turkish League following a three-game losing streak, beating Bursaspor 96-80 on the road. Surprisingly, Saben Lee didn't lead in scoring but dished out 14 assists.
UCAM Murcia vs. Nanterre 92 - Group L, 20:30 CET
UCAM Murcia have won 25 of their last 27 home games in the BCL and each of their last seven home games played in the Round of 16, scoring 90+ points in four of those seven games. However, seven of their last eight games in the competition ended with margins of seven points or fewer.
Nanterre 92 have won their last three games played as the road team in the BCL, but are yet to win more such games in a row in the competition; each of their last four road games ended with a single-digit margin.
Nanterre are the only team averaging 10+ steals per game in the BCL this season (10.9). They have made more than 15 steals in each of their last two BCL games, the best such run for a team in the competition history.
Murcia’s Jonah Radebaugh has scored 15+ points in four of his five home games played in the Round of 16 in the BCL, including 31 points in his most recent one, against AEK last season, his best total in a game in the competition; in fact, seven of the 10 games where he scored 15+ points in the BCL where in non-Regular Season games.
Ahmad Caver (Nanterre) has scored 10+ points in each of his last four BCL games, but has never done it in more games in a row; in fact, the only previous time he scored 10+ points in four games in a row was during the round of 16 last season, with Dijon.
Sticking with Spanish teams in terms of domestic results, Murcia fought until the end but lost 95-90 in overtime at home against Barcelona even though Simon Birgander, Dylan Ennis, and Jonah Radebaugh combined for 67 points. In France, Nanterre did the same but eventually lost 100-97 in Bourg-en-Bresse.