Game of the Week Preview: Unicaja v PAOK mateco
The upcoming week five Game of the Week in the Basketball Champions League features a matchup of Group G teams, Unicaja (2-0) and PAOK mateco (1-1), their first-ever meeting in the BCL.
MALAGA (Spain) - The upcoming week five Game of the Week in the Basketball Champions League features a matchup of Group G teams, Unicaja (2-0) and PAOK mateco (1-1), their first-ever meeting in the BCL.
Where: Malaga, Spain (Palacio Municipal)
When: 20:30 CET
In their last game, Unicaja defeated JDA Bourgogne Dijon 88-68 to remain unbeaten, while PAOK got their first win of the season against Dinamo BDS Sassari with the same score of 88-68.
It's an 88-68 day in the #BasketballCL, it seems... @unicajaCB take down @jdadijonbasket with the exact same score as PAOK mateco v Dinamo BDS Sassari.🧮 pic.twitter.com/cJUSBMc90Q
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) October 19, 2022
What if we told you @PAOKbasketball were down by 11 at one point? Unreal second half by the men from Thessaloniki, they outscored @dinamo_sassari 53-25 after the break!😮#BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/qdilsVrzkH
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) October 19, 2022
Unicaja have won their two first games of this BCL season and a win here will see them matching their longest winning sequence in the competition: also, three wins in the first three rounds of the 2021-22 season; Unicaja's five home wins have all ended with margins of 16 or more points. Unicaja have an average of 22.5 assists per game in the BCL this season, the most of any team, while only three teams have fewer assists per game than PAOK (14.5). PAOK will play their first away game in the BCL this season, they have lost their first away game in each of their previous five seasons in the BCL. PAOK have won just one of their last six games on the road in the competition. Tyler Kalinoski has scored 12+ points in 11 of his last 12 games in the BCL, scoring multiple three-pointers in each of those 12 games, but the last time he failed to score multiple three-pointers was at home against a Greek team (0 3PM v AEK with Bandirma in November 2019); Kalinoski is currently in a six-game winning run in the league after never tasting more than two wins in a row during his first 30 games in the competition. Jalen Riley has scored at least 19+ points in each of his last three BCL games, including in his two games this season with PAOK, after never scoring more than 7 points in consecutive games before; he has scored 3+ three-pointers in each of his last three games, however, he scored a total of one three-pointer in his last two away games in the league combined. [/unordered]
Unicaja's Dylan Osetkowski was just named to the BCL Team of the Month for October after averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in only 17.9 minutes per game through the team's first two games. The 26-year-old scored 33 points in just 36 minutes of action and shot a super-efficient 61.1 percent from the field and 75 percent from three-point range.
One of PAOK's standout players, Jalen Riley, has enjoyed a good start to his 2022-23 BCL campaign as well, averaging 22 points per game, which is currently tied for fifth in the competition. There's also some symmetry to his shooting numbers so far, as the 29-year-old is knocking down 50 percent of his shots from the field and three-point. Riley is also tied for the most made threes in a game so far this season, when he made six shots from behind the arc against JDA Bourgogne Dijon.
Team comparison by the numbers:
|
Unicaja |
Stat Category |
PAOK |
|
55.4 |
2-point FG % |
48.3 |
|
50 |
3-point FG % |
34.4 |
|
53 |
Overall FG % |
41 |
|
53.6 |
Free throw % |
78.9 |
|
26 |
Defensive rebounds |
26 |
|
10 |
Offensive rebounds |
10 |
|
36 |
Total rebounds |
35 |
|
8 |
Steals |
12 |
|
22 |
Assists |
14 |
|
15 |
Turnovers |
14 |
|
0 |
Blocks |
3 |
|
29 |
Points from Turnover |
20 |
|
38 |
Points in the Paint |
28 |
|
54.5 |
Points from the Bench |
27.5 |