LA LAGUNA (Spain) - La Laguna Tenerife are on cruise control again, celebrating their 12th straight win in the BCL, tying the club's record for most consecutive wins in this competition.
Unicaja's 18 wins in a row are out of reach this season, but there are plenty of other marks when it comes to Tenerife and the BCL.
The win over BAXI Manresa was their 28th in a row at home, they haven't lost at the Santiago Martin Arena since December 2021, which is an important piece of intel when you consider Tenerife will have home court advantage in the Quarter-Finals.
Marcelinho Huertas is the reigning MVP of the Season, Giorgi Shermadini is the all-time leader in points, Tim Abromaitis in rebounds, Marcelinho in assists - the list goes on and on for the two-time champs.
And then, there's the most dominant figure of all. Txus Vidorreta was honored before the game on Tuesday, the CEO of the Basketball Champions League Patrick Comninos handing him over a trophy with the number 100.
The 56-year-old playcaller became the first BCL coach to register 100 wins. Nobody else has more than 50 wins on the all-time list, Ilias Papatheodorou is the one in the second spot with exactly 50. That's how dominant Tenerife's coach has been since day one of this journey.
"I remember that day perfectly," Vidorreta says about win #1, back in October 2016, as Iberostar Tenerife defeated Cibona 85-57 on the road in Zagreb, Croatia.
"Before the game Aleksandar Petrovic, who was the president of Cibona at that moment, came over to say hi, we had a good relationship from years before, and it was a special day because it was my first day at the Drazen Petrovic Hall."
The Arena has its place in basketball history, and in Txus' memory, too.
"I know Drazen's mother, her kindness and elegance were always impressive, so it was a special game for us, for me."
As for the game itself, it was a blowout. Tenerife were on cruise control from tip-off, and the two leaders of the team in that game are actually very familiar.
"It was a big win, Aaron and Tim were on the team. I didn't know that nine years later we would be together again," Vidorreta smiled.
Aaron is, of course, Aaron Doornekamp. He had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Tim is Tim Abromaitis, playing a near perfect game with 17 points, knocking down all three of his threes, with 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and an assist.
"I remember the dense traffic in Zagreb, we only arrived to the arena 40 minutes, 30 minutes before the game. We played against Ante Zizic, for example, a very good player who went to the NBA."
Zizic was Cibona's top scorer with 14 in that game, and that roster had other names we heard plenty about a bit later in the BCL, such as Zeljko Sakic or Emir Sulejmanovic.
What was the journey like between win #1 and win #100 for Tenerife's coach?
"The journey between the first game and 100th game and more is that which shows that the BCL is a league that is growing every year. For us, it was a totally new competition, and thinking about this first game and now - BCL has been really important to us. We are now the team that we are, because the BCL gave us a chance to improve and to grow year by year," Vidorreta praises the growth of this competition.
"It's not a question of the number of wins of myself. It's a question of the wins of the club. I have one assistant who actually has more wins than I do, because he was in all the games. For me, 100 wins is not important, what's important is that the team is winning all these years."
When Txus Vidorreta's BCL reign started, Tenerife were still new to international competitions. Since then, not only has Vidorreta picked up triple digit wins, the club has also won two BCL titles, three FIBA Intercontinental Cups, and became a force to be reckoned with, internationally and domestically.
"The challenge now is that the opponents know us, and are trying to make our game more difficult every season. We're trying to improve our level, because the level of the opponents is better year by year," Txus explained the obstacles throughout the century mark of wins.
Since BCL has always been linked to domestic leagues, it's important now to observe Tenerife's performances in Spain. They are a regular at the Copa del Rey, reaching the Final in 2023, while their current Liga Endesa season sees them fighting with Real Madrid for the top spot ahead of the Play-Offs.
Tenerife's coach connects the BCL success to the Spanish League success.
"The possibility to be even better in the Spanish competitions is there because the BCL gave us this opportunity to increase our level game by game, week by week."
While he hates talking about personal accolades, there is one thing that's missing in his trophy cabinet. Incredibly, Txus Vidorreta has never been named Coach of the Season in the BCL.
But with Tenerife riding a perfect 12-0 record this season, that could change already in May.