Frutti Extra Bursaspor retained most of the big parts of the roster that carried the team to last season’s 7DAYS EuroCup Championship Game. But it was two of the new faces who shined brightest in the club’s return to the Slovenian capital to take on Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana to start the 2022-23 season.

Anthony Clemmons scored 20 points and Yigitcan Saybir poured in 19 points as Bursaspor registered a 73-81 victory over Cedevita in a rematch of the quarterfinals that the road team also won at the Arena Stozice 83-85 in late April.

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Derek Needham, David Dudzinski, Onuralp Bitim, Omer Al and Tarik Sezgun areall back from the fairy tale Bursaspor team from last season.

Head coach Dusan Alimpijevic knew he would need new pieces to help come close to matching last season’s success and Clemmons and Saybir showed in Round 1 that they were good choices. Clemmons is entering his third EuroCup season after playing previously with AS Monaco and Turk Telekom Ankara.

Saybir showed already in his first EuroCup with Bursaspor more than he did in his six Turkish Airlines EuroLeague appearances with Anadolu Efes Istanbul over four seasons, during which he totaled 2 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in 19 minutes. Against Cedevita, the 23-year-old forward - who was a part of the back-to-back EuroLeague title-winners - added 4 rebounds and 2 assists to his 19 points in 31 minutes.  

 Saybir shines for Bursaspor in his EuroCup debut

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Another newcomer to Bursaspor this season is Zach Auguste, who was actually in the quarterfinals game last season as he collected 13 points and 3 rebounds for Cedevita. This time around, Auguste had 5 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks - for the winners.

New faces shined in Bursaspor’s return to Ljubljana

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana v Frutti Extra Bursaspor (2022-10-12T18:00:00.000Z)

Stats review: Good shots vs. good shooting

Using the new Synergy Shot Quality model, get a look at how perhaps the biggest upset of Round 1 in the 7DAYS EuroCup unfolded.

### Shot Quality vs. Shot Making

No game in Round 1 saw a momentum swing quite like the matchup between Paris Basketball and Turk Telekom Ankara. The Turkish club jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter that swelled to 15 points late in the second before Paris closed the gap to trail by 4 at halftime. After a back-and-forth battle in the third quarter that saw both teams grab leads, Paris steadily built a 15-point margin over the final 10 minutes to complete a 30-point turnaround!

With the free throw, turnover and rebounding differentials all being fairly even between the teams, it was clear that shooting was the key factor in Paris’s comeback.

Digging deeper into the subject of shooting, we can look at the game through the lens of Synergy Shot Quality – a data-driven model that estimates the expected value of every shot attempted based on a variety of factors, including distance, shot type, play type, defensive pressure and game situation. The graph above shows the rolling average of expected points per shot for both teams over all 40 minutes of action with the shading showing which team was getting better looks at different points in the game.

While in some spots the action on the court was in lockstep with the graph – notably where Turk Telekom jumped out to a double-digit lead before the teams went back and forth through most of the middle quarters – that was not the case at two key moments in the game: Paris’s quick comeback right before halftime and its fourth-quarter surge both defied expectations.

The latter of those stretches shows just how hard it can be to win in the EuroCup. In the final 10 minutes, Turk Telekom consistently created better shots than its defense allowed to Paris but shot just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. In contrast, Paris’s shooters nailed their last 4 three-point attempts, including a desperate heave from Axel Toupane to beat the shot clock after a broken play. As such, the French club took control of the game during a stretch in which Turk Telekom was actually getting better looks.

Such is life in the EuroCup. Ultimately, makes and misses drive outcomes, regardless of shot quality. The question now becomes whether Turk Telekom’s success creating quality looks leads to better things in subsequent rounds and if Paris can continue to lean on its ability to make more shots than expected moving forward.

### Looking Ahead to Round 2

Frutti Extra Brusaspor made a Cinderella run to the EuroCup Finals last year while Joventut Badalona bowed out in the eighthfinals after finishing atop the regular season standings. Despite integrating several key new contributors, both teams cruised to wins in Round 1, setting the stage for an intriguing Round 2 matchup. Much like last season, the first encounter between these teams this year could hinge on the chess match that will play out between Bursaspor’s ball screen-heavy attack and how Joventut looks to defend it.

Look back at all the action in the Regular Season Round 1  by checking out the best photos of the week!

EuroCup, The Top 10 photos of the week, Round 1

Round 1 roll call: Impact performers

Among the many players who tipped off the 7DAYS EuroCup season in style, here are a few who stood out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

### **Gegic shattered his career-bests**

It was a 7DAYS EuroCup debut to remember for Paris Basketball, with a 75-90 comeback road win against Turk Telekom Ankara. Among several Paris players who produced well was 23-year old swingman Amar Gegic. After totaling 29 points and a PIR of 30 in his previous 14 EuroCup appearances and never scoring more than 4 points in any game with FC Bayern and Partizan Belgrade, Gegic went for 17 points and had a team-high performance index rating of 19 to help Paris celebrate a historic night.

Gegic shatters his career-bests

### **Kennedy stole the show**

Another debut winner Prometey Slobozhanske, which downed Lietkabelis Paneveyzs 82-71. One of Prometey's heroes was veteran forward D.J. Kennedy, whose all-round performance saw him collect 6 steals, a number reached by only one player in the EuroCup all of last season and four in the last three seasons.

Kennedy stole the show

### **Maldunas with a career-high PIR**

In that same game, Lietkabelis veteran forward Gabrielius Maldunas posted a career-high PIR of 16 in his 30th EuroCup game over three seasons. Maldunas also tied career bests with 12 points on 6 two-pointers made.  

Maldunas with a career-high PIR

### **Shining Simpson**

Among several big producers for Promitheas Patras in its 76-89 road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento was guard Trevis Simpson. He hit all 5 of his two-point tries and 3 of 6 triples on his way to 22 points, his career high. He also pulled down 5 rebounds on his way to a PIR of 25, second highest of all players in the opening round and another career high in his second season.

Travis Simpson shined for Promitheas

### **All-round Flaccadori**

A fifth-year veteran in the competition, Diego Flaccadori was the best player for Trento in its home loss against Promitheas. He had one his best all-round EuroCup performances, which included dishing 7 assists, a new career-high for 26-year old guard. He also had 6 rebounds and accumulated a performance index rating of 24, each of the marks just 1 shy of his career-best.

All-round Flaccadori

### **Pelos produced in limited action**

In what was one of the keys for Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse in its home win over U-BT Cluj-Napoca, center Pierre Pelos managed to net 16 points in just 15 minutes. Pelos scored 11 of those points as Bourg pulled away for good in the second half. Pelos nailed his first 4 three-point attempts, finishing 4-for-5 for the game, and pulled down 5 defensive rebounds. A lot of production in 15 minutes of play.

Pelos produced in limited action

### **Kolenda scored with confidence**

For parts of the game, Slask Wroclaw guard Lukasz Kolenda dominated on the road against Gran Canaria. He almost single-handedly kept Slask in the lead late in the third quarter, and gave his team hope well into the fourth. Playing with confidence, Kolenda finished with 23 points, a career-high that also tied for the best scoring performance of Round 1. He knocked down 3-of-6 three-point shots and had PIR 18, also his best in EuroCup action.

Kolenda scored with confidence

Round 1 MVP: Arnoldas Kulboka, Promitheas Patras 

A double-double in his 7DAYS EuroCup debut was more than good enough for Promitheas Patras forward Arnoldas Kulboka to walk with the Round 1 MVP honor for the opening week of play. Kulboka was everywhere for Promitheas as it ran away to a 76-89 road win against Dolomiti Energia Trento on Wednesday. The 24-year-old forward, playing in his first EuroCup game, poured in 18 points while missing just 4 shots and pulled down 11 rebounds for the winners while drawing 6 fouls and committing 0 turnovers. It all added up to a performance index rating of 31, well above all other players in Round 1. His Promitheas teammate, Trevis Simpson, came next with a 25 PIR after scoring 22 points on perfect 5-for-5 two-point and 3-for-3 free-throw shooting in the victory. Trento's top player in that game, Diego Flaccadori, ranked third for the week, combining 14 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds for a PIR of 24. Next came veteran center Kosta Koufos of London Lions, whose PIR of 23 came on 14 points, 7-for-9 two-point shooting and 10 rebounds in a 76-59 road loss against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Tied for fifth place for the week, teenager Fedor Zugic of ratiopharm Ulm and Frutti Extra Bursaspor newcomer Yigitcan Saybir each posted PIRs of 22 in leading their teams to opening-round victories.

A double-double in his 7DAYS EuroCup debut was more than good enough for Promitheas Patras forward Arnoldas Kulboka to walk with the Round 1 MVP honor for the opening week of play.

Arnoldas Kulboka | Round 1 MVP | 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup

### Individual highs: Kennedy, Prometey, 6 steals

AJ Slaughter of Gran Canaria and Lukasz Kolenda of Slask Wroclaw topped all Round 1 scorers with 23 points each in the same game. Gran Canaria won it, 92-81. The best rebounder, with 13 boards, was Chris Horton of Hapoel Tel Aviv, a home winner vs. London Lions. On the assists front, Kendale McCullum had 10 for Veolia Towers Hamburg, the sole double-figure total in Round 1. D.J. Kennedy had the most steals, 6, for Prometey Slobozhanske, another debut winner. Two players – Ismael Kamagate of Paris Basket and Mike Cobbins of Germani Brescia – blocked 3 shots each, the high for Round 1. 

Dolomiti Energia Trento v Promitheas Patras (2022-10-12T18:00:00.000Z)

EuroCup Fantasy Challenge: Round 1 winner! 

7DAYS EuroCup fans, we have our first EuroCup Fantasy Challenge winner of the season! Dimitris Papadopoulos beat everyone else in Round 1 with the team “xastoagorimou alla sto eurocup” posting a score of 198.3.

Dimitris had the following lineup: team captain Gian Clavell of Prometey Slobozhanske, A.J. Slaughter of Gran Canaria, Edo Muric of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, Arnoldas Kulboka of Promitheas Patras and Ismael Kamagate of Paris Basketball as starters; Trevis Simpson of Promitheas as sixth man; Jerian Grant of Turk Telekom Ankara, Ahmet Duverioglu of Frutti Extra Bursaspor, Jeff Brooks of Umana Reyer Venice and Oleksandr Lypovyy of Prometey as bench players; as well as Ronen Ginzburg, also of Prometey, as head coach. The prize for finishing first in Round 1 is a free subscription to Euroleague TV for the 2023-24 season!

Dimitris Papadopoulos is also now the leader of the EuroLeague Fantasy Challenge overall standings.

Trades are now open for Round 2. Remember, three trades are allowed before each round until the end of the regular season, and you can also trade your head coach.

The first game in Round 2, Veolia Towers Hamburg vs. Turk Telekom, is scheduled to tip off on Tuesday, October 18 at 19:30 CET, and thus marks next round's deadline.

Make new teams now or improve your existing ones and try to become our next round winner!

Gran Canaria trailed for the majority of the first three quarters before pulling away in the fourth to register a 92-81 win over Slask Wroclaw. The hosts struggled with turnovers and long-range shooting. Gran Canaria had 7 turnovers in the first quarter and then shot 4-for-16 from behind the arc in the middle two quarters.

However, led by A.J. Slaughter, the team caught fire in the final 10 minutes during which it scored 28 points. Slaughter netted 4 triples in the fourth quarter as Gran Canaria shot 6-for-8 from deep in that stretch. Also, Gran Canaria had just 1 turnover in the final 10 minutes and just 3 in the second half. That helped the hosts take control of the game and get a season-opening win.

Stellar stat: Gran Canaria caught fourth-quarter fire

Gran Canaria v Slask Wroclaw (2022-10-12T19:00:00.000Z)

A deep dive into the numbers from Veolia Towers Hamburg’s 66-73 road win over Buducnost VOLI Podgorica in the Montenegrin capital on Wednesday shows that the home team did a lot of what you need to do to win. However, the ultimate goal in basketball is to make shots and that is where Hamburg excelled.

Hamburg knocked down 10 three-pointers at 50 percent accuracy. Ziga Samar (3 for 4) and Lukas Meisner (3 for 6) led the way while Seth Hinrichs (1 for 1), Kendale McCullum (1 for 2), Marvin Clark (1 for 3) and Christoph Phillips (1 for 3) accounted for the rest. Buducnost took 4 more threes than Hamburg’s 20 and made only 7 (29.2%).

The visiting team also shot better from two-point range (48.8%) than Buducnost did (43.6%) and committed fewer turnovers, losing the ball 15 times the hosts’ 21.

The difference in shooting made up for the areas in which Hamburg was deficient in Round 1. Coach Korner’s men were outrebounded 43-32 and gave up 17 offensive boards. Buducnost also scored 17 fastbreak points compared to just 10 for Hamburg. Buducnost also got more from its reserves (40 points) than Hamburg did (34 points). In the end, it did not add up to enough because Hamburg simply made too many shots.

Hamburg’s shooting was the difference against Buducnost

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica v Veolia Towers Hamburg (2022-10-12T17:00:00.000Z)

Despite missing 3 of its 6 last attempts, Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse managed to seal the win over U-BT Cluj Napoca from the line.

“Fortunately the final result is good, but for a coach like me, it was not perfect. But since this is the beginning, it was a good win," Bourg head coach Frederic Fauthoux said after his team grabbed a hard-fought 88-85 win in its 7DAYS EuroCup opener. The reason for labeling the victory as non-perfect was a wasted 13-point margin with 6 minutes remaining and a lost 85-76 edge entering crunch time.

"We needed to win this game earlier. This group is young, and we must have controlled the game when we were leading by 10 or 12 points”, he added. Fortunately for him, when Jordan Floyd missed a free throw with 9 seconds to go that set an 86-84 margin, Jordan Taylor missed another one 3 seconds later that could have tied the game.

Floyd went to the line again with 5 seconds remaining and missed once again, but Leo Meindl ruined Cluj's comeback by wasting 2 free throws right after that. The Romanian champs tried to force a miracle by fouling James Palmer right away with just 1 second on the clock. This time, Palmer converted the first one and missed the second, giving Cluj no chance in the end.

Free-throw shooting made the difference for Bourg

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse v U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2022-10-12T17:30:00.000Z)