Group A winner Prometey Slobozhanske (14-4) has not lost a game in 2023 and enters the EuroCup Eighthfinals on an 11-game winning streak. Veolia Towers Hamburg (6-12), which has only won twice on the road all season, will try to spring an upset as the No. 8 seed.
New Kids on the Block
One of these teams will reach the EuroCup Quarterfinals for the first time ever. While Prometey is making its EuroCup debut this season, Hamburg played its first EuroCup season last year and reached the knockout rounds, where it was eliminated by Valencia Basket in the eighthfinals.
It is not only the teams who bring a distinct lack of experience to this stage, it’s the players, too. Only two players remain from the Hamburg side that reached the eighthfinals last season: Seth Hinrichs and Lukas Meisner. In addition, Christoph Philipps reached the quarterfinals last season with ratiopharm Ulm. The only other Hamburg player with previous experience is backup center Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann, who twice reached the elimination rounds with ALBA Berlin, getting as far as the quarterfinals in 2014.
Three Prometey players have been as far as the quarterfinals before, but only one in the past decade; center Ondrej Balvin played the 2018 quarterfinals with Gran Canaria. Asdie from him, the only two players with experience at this stage are Denys Lukashov, who played in the 2011 quarterfinals with Budivelnik and Oleksandr Lypovyy who got to the same round a year later with Donetsk.
Ball handling could prove decisive
While Promotey is among the best teams in the EuroCup in terms of taking care of the ball, no team plays quite as helter-skelter as Hamburg, which has forced the most turnovers in the competition. Promotey has committed the third-fewest turnovers (12.5 per game) and collected the most steals (9.7 spg.). However, it is also in the middle of the pack in assists (ninth, 17.9 apg.). Hamburg has both committed (15.2 per game) and forced (15.5 per game) the most turnovers in the EuroCup, but has also dished more assists (fifth, 19.8 apg.) that Promotey.
Interestingly, Promotey forward Ivan Tkachenko leads the EuroCup this season with a 4.0-to-1 assist t turnover ratio. That said, the statistic is misleading as he has just 4 assists and 1 turnover over 154 minutes in 15 games. There are two more Promotey players with assist-to-turnover rations of 2.0: Lukashov and Lypovyy. Not far behind at 1.9 are the injured Caleb Agada and DJ Kennedy. Only one Hamburg player (Ziga Samar, 2.0) is ranked among the top 30.
How those Promotey ball-handlers are able to withstand the pressure and playing style of the aggressive Hamburg defenders will say a lot about this game’s outcome.