Breakdown: Prometey Slobozhanske vs. Turk Telekom Ankara

Two first-time semifinalists will square off in Riga, the home away from home for Ukrainian club Prometey Slobozhanske, which hosts Turk Telekom Ankara in a do-or-die game that will send the winner into the final. Competition newcomer Prometey entered the playoffs as the Group A winner, while Turk Telekom finished in second place in Group B. Both teams have ridden their respective home-court advantages into the semis and, while Prometey tries to continue doing that, Turk Telekom now must find that same spark on the road.

Uncharted territory

Prometey has not only made the semis in its first season in the competition, but the team is on a 13-game winning streak that dates back to December 6, when it lost an overtime game at Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse. This winning run is tied for the sixth-longest in competition history and tied for the fourth-longest in a single season. Prometey will try to do something only Unicaja Malaga has done in the past 10 years, reach the EuroCup Finals in its debut. Turk Telekom played in the quarterfinals for the first time last week and now it is a first-time semifinalist and aiming for its first finals appearance. Even though both rosters have many veteran players and experience, the only player on either team who has played this deep into a EuroCup season is Turk Telekom center Michael Eric, who won the title with Darussafaka Istanbul in 2018.

Defense will decide it

No team this season has forced as many turnovers (15.6 tpg.) or collected as many steals (9.6 spg.) as Prometey, led by Caleb Agada's 2.3 steals per game, the EuroCup's second-best. The team actually ranks near the bottom in three-point accuracy (32.7% 3FG), but Prometey ranks first in scoring (88.0 ppg.) in big part thanks to its defense, which allows it to often play in transition and get a whole bunch of fastbreak points. That defense also allows Prometey to shoot more often than all but one team this season, with its 67 field goal attempts per game and 29.9 three-point attempts per game both second-most in the competition.

Turk Telekom, on the other hand, has one of the best defenses in terms of points allowed. The team enters the semifinals having allowed 77.8 points per game, which is third-fewest this season, and it has allowed the third-fewest offensive boards (9.4 orpg.) and second-fewest rebounds (32.3 rpg). Turk Telekom has won the rebounding battle in 14 of its 20 games this season, including both playoff contests, and has won 13 of those. In addition, both teams have held opponents to 76 or fewer points in their last three games, and that will be the goal for each team in this semifinal matchup, too.

Key players carry the load

Turk Telekom playmaker Jerian Grant enters the semifinals ranking fourth in the competition in average PIR (18.6), big man Tyrique Jones is fifth (18.4) and shooting forward Axel Bouteille ranks eighth (17.8). Grant, who was the quarterfinals MVP, ranks second this season in assists (6.2 apg.), Bouteille ranks fourth in scoring (17.9 ppg.) and third in three-pointers made (2.8 3FG), Jones is sixth in offensive rebounding (2.7 orpg.), and along with Tony Taylor, those three players have carried Turk Telekom throughout the season. On the other side, Prometey's main protagonists are playmakers Gian Clavell (15.0 ppg.) and Agada (14.8 ppg., 4.1 apg.) who returned from injury last week, as well as D.J. Stephens (13.4 ppg.). Prometey has a more balanced attack, one in which six different players have averaged 8.3 points or more so far. Will Turk Telekom's three stars be able to carry the load and make plays when their team needs them? or will Prometey's balance prevail?

The stars provide sparks

When Prometey or Turk Telekom take the floor, highlight-reel plays come in bunches. Stephens, thanks to assists from Agada and Clavell, has been a fixture when it comes to best plays each round, but so have Jones and Grant for Turk Telekom. Whether it is the pulverizing dunks or emphatic blocks from Stephens or Jones, sweet passes from Agada, Clavell or Grant, or big-time three-pointers from Bouteille, both Prometey and Turk Telekom have the players who can provide a spark when their team needs one.

Turk Telekom erased double-digit deficits in both playoff games, including a 14-margin last week against ratiopharm Ulm, and its second-half charge included a series of highlight-reel plays that got the entire team going, as has been the case the entire season. The same is true of Prometey, and in addition to the team-leading trio, big man Ondrej Balvin has also been no stranger to delivering exciting plays. There will certainly be plenty of those when these teams share the same floor on Wednesday.