Virtus Segafredo Bologna takes on Lietkabelis Panevezys for a spot in the quarterfinals. Virtus, which placed fourth in Group B with an 11-7 record, has the home-court advantage against Group A’s fifth-place team.
Breakdown: Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs. Lietkabelis Panevezys
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Three-pointers are key for Lietkabelis
Lietkabelis relies on its three-point shots to improve its chances to win this game. It has been very accurate from beyond the arc in wins, burying 101 of 246 three-point shots in those nine games. Lietkabelis set two club records in Round 9 against Boulogne Metropolitans 92 when it made 19 three-pointers on 52.8% shooting. Coach Nenad Canak's team is 7-1 when hitting at least 37.5% of its three-point attempts, only losing on the road against Partizan NIS Belgrade (41.2%).
The flip side is that Lietkabelis has made only 30.5% of its three-point shots in games it lost. It has buried just 76 of 249 shots from beyond the arc in those showdowns. Lietkabelis lost all seven games in which it shot below 37.0% from beyond the arc. Vytenis Lipkevicius is 55.9% from the three-point line in wins, while Panagiotis Kalaitzakis (42.9%) and Kristupas Zemaitis (41.7%) have made over 40% in those games. In losses, all three players shoot with much lower percentages - Kalaitzakis 31.0%, Zemaitis 23.7%, Lipkevicius 19.4%.
Shengelia is the series’ only champion
Only one player in this series has won the 7DAYS EuroCup title in the past - over a decade ago and with a very small role. Toko Shengelia of Virtus helped Valencia Basket lift the EuroCup in 2010. He dressed for the championship game against ALBA Berlin, but didn't play in his team's 44-67 victory. He only appeared in three games during the 2009-10 campaign, getting season-highs of 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and a PIR of 10 in a regular-season game against Le Mans.
Shengelia was away from the competition for more than 11 full seasons and a lot has changed for him. He went on to play for Pepinster and Charleroi of Belgium, Brooklyn and Chicago of the NBA and Springfield of the G League before he joined Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Shengelia spent six seasons with Baskonia and was named to the 2017-18 All-EuroLeague First Team. He played his first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four with CSKA Moscow in 2021; he qualified with Baskonia in 2016 but did not play due to injury. Right at the prime of his career, Shengelia wants to win the EuroCup again, this time with a significant role.
Lietkabelis, a major turnaround
Few counted on Lietkabelis to play such a brilliant role in the regular season. Coach Canak's team earned every bit of it, winning its first two road games against Slask Wroclaw and Dolomiti Energia Trento and adding six home wins - and another one in Hamburg - to stay in the driver's seat until the end of the regular season. Last season, Lietkabelis did not win on the road and finished the regular season with a 2-8 record.
Lietkabelis is playing its first EuroCup elimination-round game ever. The club is in its fourth campaign in the competition. Its best effort until now had been in the 2016-17 season, in which Ben Madgen and the Lavrinovic twins, Darjus and Ksistof, helped Lietkebalis reach the Top 16 and finish with a 5-9 record. A year later, in 2017-18, Lietkabelis did not advance past the regular season with a 4-6 record. No matter what happens in Bologna, Lietkabelis will finish the 2021-22 season with a winning record for the first time.
Experience is on Virtus's side
If experience matters, then Virtus has an advantage. Added to Shengelia's achievement, Milos Teodosic and Daniel Hackett were EuroLeague champions with CSKA in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Teodosic was named the EuroLeague MVP in 2009-10 and received back-to-back EuroCup Regular Season MVPs in the previous two seasons. Teodosic and Isaia Cordinier have earned All-EuroCup First Team honors, Kyle Weems went all the way to the 2015 EuroCup Finals with Strasbourg and Marco Belinelli played in the 2004 EuroLeague championship game with Fortitudo Bologna.