Two of the youngest and most fun-to-watch teams in the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup meet for the first time this season in the do-or-die eighthfinals when Joventut Badalona (10-8) visits ratiopharm Ulm (10-8). The winner will travel to the French capital to face Paris Basketball (17-1) in the quarterfinals.
Joventut: trying the hard way
Joventut has advanced past the group stage for the fourth consecutive season. It won the EuroCup in 2008 when it thrashed Akasvayu Girona 54-79 in the final in Turin, Italy. Pau Ribas was with the team back then and has a chance to win a third EuroCup crown, 16 years later. If he does, he will become the second player to lift the EuroCup trophy three times, joining Rafa Martinez. Joventut made it to the semifinals last season and previously reached this stage in the first-ever EuroCup season in 2003, but lost against Gran Canaria and Krka Novo Mesto, respectively.