MIES (Switzerland) - The ninth season of the Basketball Champions League tipped off with a bang, and there were plenty of highlights on a nine-game Tuesday evening across the continent. This is what we learned last night.
Age is just a number
The phrase is generally used when somebody from the 35+ category goes off and turns back the clock, i.e. like Dairis Bertans did on Tuesday, getting the first 30+ point game of his pro career which started 20 years ago.
But this time around, age is just a number refers to the BCL youngsters.
Nolan Traore has been on people's radars for the past three years, and at 18 years of age, he's already a leader, a scorer, a passer and somehow, a veteran presence for Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball. Because how else could you explain a teenager went without a single turnover in 25 minutes against Andrew Goudelock and the rest of Kolossos H Hotels in his first BCL game, ever?
Traore finished with 27 points - the most by an under-21 player in a single game in the history of this competition, edging out a certain Alperen Sengun who was the previous record holder with 25 - and also had 5 assists. SQBB were a +25 team in his 26 minutes of action.
You would think that's enough to make him the Best Young Player of the season already, right? Wrong!
Teenager takes on defending champs
While you could say Traore had a blowout game against a non-contender team, there's only praise for Filou Oostende's newest wunderkind then.
Noah Meeusen will turn 19 in a month, and coach Dario Gjergja was quick to lure him over from the Leuven Bears over the summer. Meeusen went up against Unicaja on Tuesday, and did not back away from the challenge of facing the defending champions.
The point guard had 18 points in 21 minutes off the bench, shooting 6-of-10 from the field, with 4-of-7 from deep, also collecting 4 rebounds and a pair of steals to give him a team-high efficiency rating of 19.
Traore already has a habit of putting up major numbers in consecutive games, now the jury is out to observe if Meeusen can do it constantly, too.
Big youngsters can play, too
That's not all when it comes to BCL teenagers. Pallacanestro Reggiana picked up their first win, taking down the Lithuanian champs Rytas Vilnius thanks to a monster performance by their 19-year-old center.
Mouhamed Faye came off the bench and made seven of his nine shots from the field, counting to 15 points, with 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, becoming the first player to block five shots coming off the bench on his BCL debut.
Faye already had a solid season with Reggiana in Italy in 2023-24, but the European stage seems to have made him even hungrier for success.
You would think that's enough to make him the best frontcourt prospect in the Best Young Player race, right? Wrong!
That's because another 19-year-old is already a starter with RASTA Vechta. Johann Grunloh had 12 points and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes on the road against Galatasaray, and Vechta were competitive when he was out there, as he was an impressive -2 in a game which had his team losing by 27 at one point, and ending up at -12.
And this was just the first day of the competition.
Quick notes
Vyacheslav Bobrov (VEF Riga) had 0 points and 10 rebounds, becoming the fourth player to get double digit rebounds while staying scoreless. The last time it happened was when Jerry Boutsiele had 0 points and 11 rebounds for Limoges CSP in 2020.
Darius McGhee (Telekom Baskets Bonn) had 25 points and 6 assists off the bench, only the third player to have such a debut as a non-starter (Bryon Allen in October 2016, Tyrese Rice in October 2018).
Prentiss Hubb (AEK Betsson BC) set his new BCL career-highs with 28 points and 7 three-pointers made.
DeWayne Russell (Aliaga Petkimspor) had 13 points and 11 assists, making this his third double-double in the last five BCL games, tying his BCL career-high with 11 assists, too.
Dylan Osetkowski (Unicaja) had his BCL career-highs with 24 points and 6 three-pointers made, in what was his 30th BCL game.
Saben Lee (Manisa Basket) is the first player in BCL history with more than 30 points, more than 5 rebounds and more than 5 rebounds in his first game in this competition, finishing with 36, 6 and 6, respectively. He tied Tyrone Brazeltone's record for most points in the first BCL game, and at 14-of-14 free throw shooting, he was just one shy of tying the mark for most free throws made without a miss (DeAngelo Harrison 15/15 for Happy Casa Brindisi in November 2020).
Otis Livingston (Galatasaray) came in as the reigning MVP of the German Bundesliga, and then torched a Bundesliga team in his first game in Turkiye, finishing with 21 points, 5-of-6 three-point shooting, 9 assists, +26 and an efficiency rating of 23. He is now 3-0 against Vechta in his career, averaging 20.3 points and 6.3 assists in those wins.