Spotlight on Hungarian clubs, as Fehervar and Kormend take on rivals from Romania, France

MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) - The main storylines will revolve around Hungarian teams on Wednesday evening, as Kormend and Alba Fehervar find themselves in the midst of captivating FIBA Europe Cup Second Round action.

Having come close to upsetting the league-leading Nanterre 92 on the road in France already, Kormend will give it another shot on their home floor, while Alba Fehervar travel to neighboring Romania to face the in-form Aleksandar Rasic and U-BT Cluj-Napoca in Group O.

Kormend (2-1) v Nanterre (3-0), 18:00 CET

After advancing from the Regular Season as one of the four best third-placed teams, Kormend have somewhat surprisingly taken the Second Round by storm, winning two of their three fixtures in Group N.

Positive results against Tsmoki Minsk and Bnei Herzliya have the Hungarian side ranked second in the standings behind their Wednesday’s opponents from Nanterre, who are still undefeated in the FIBA Europe Cup.

When the two sides met at the Palais des Sports Maurice Thorez on the first game day of the Second Round, Kormend punched above their weight and were always within striking distance of the Nanterre club, despite eventually losing 87-77.

Heiko Schaffartzik set his season-high in points with 18 points after making 4-of-7 from three-point range in what was a red-hot shooting night for both sides. The hosts went 12-of-25 from beyond the arc, while Kormend buried 11-of-24 attempts from long range.

Already with a sizeable two-game lead over the two other teams in the group, Nanterre could book their place in the Round of 16 with a win in Hungary if Bnei Herzliya also defeat Tsmoki Minsk in Israel. At the same time, a loss to Kormend by more than 10 points would drop them to second place.

Throughout the season, Nanterre have relied heavily on their backcourt on offense with Spencer Butterfield, Chris Warren and Schaffartzik rotating as the team’s leading scorers pretty much on a nightly basis.

Butterfield is still leading the team with an average of 13 points per game, but the duo of Warren and Schaffartzik have been carrying an increased offensive load in the Second Round.

Meanwhile, scoring duties are less evenly distributed for Kormend, with Terry Allen leading the way with 20.2 points and 6.1 rebounds and Jordan Loveridge adding 14.8 points and 5.4 boards per game.

U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2-1) v Alba Fehervar (2-1), 19:00 CET

Out of all Second Round groups, the most complicated situation is undoubtedly in Group O, where Pau-Lacq-Orthez, U-BT Cluj-Napoca and Alba Fehervar all started the week with two wins and one loss each.

With the French team failing to add their third victory after being handed an upset by Pardubice on the road in Czech Republic on Tuesday, the two other front-running teams will now face off in Romania for a chance to move up to first place.

In the first game between the sides, the laurels went to Alba Fehervar who stood their ground at home and picked up a 92-83 win behind strong performances by Akos Keller, Luka Markovic and James Farr.

In spite of opening the Second Round with a loss, U-BT Cluj-Napoca made up for it by registering an upset against the previously undefeated Pau-Lacq-Orthez. In turn, the French side got the better of Alba Fehervar, completing the three-team loop.

When the teams meet in Cluj-Napoca on Wednesday, the Romanians will be looking to set the record straight and win by a margin bigger than the nine points in order to get the tiebreaker in one of many possible head-to-head situations.

For Alba Fehervar, stopping Serbian guard Aleksandar Rasic, who has stepped his game up a gear in the Second Round, will be the number one priority, with the 32-year-old veteran averaging 20.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game for U-BT Cluj-Napoca in the last three games.

Meanwhile, Justin Edwards stands out as the key figure on the Alba Fehervar team sheet, with averages of 16.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

FIBA