By the numbers, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar has many advantages over Lietkabelis Panevezys, however, the hosts were shorthanded last week and will certainly be without the injured Johnathan Motley and Stanton Kidd on Wednesday.

Keys to victory: Lokomotiv vs. Lietkabelis

However, Greg Whittington is expected back this week and Lokomotiv will need him and Alan Williams to help in the team in the paint and on the glass against a Lietkabelis side that has outrebounded opponents by 4.9 rebounds per game this season.

Marquee matchup: Lokomotiv’s McCollum vs. Lietkabelis’s Lipkevicius

Lietkabelis Panevezys will look to its veteran shooting guard, Vytenis Lipkevicius, to use his experience to contain McCollum, who leads the competition in both scoring (23.5 ppg.) and average PIR (25.3). Lipkevicius, who boasts five seasons of EuroLeague experience with Zalgiris Kaunas, has been worth 9.3 points on 42.9% three-point shooting, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists this season. McCollum has the speed advantage and Lipkevicius has the size. It will be a critical matchup this week.

Errick McCollum - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar - (photo David Grau - Joventut) EC21

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar will try to mount a winning streak for the first time since early November when it hosts Lietkabelis Panevezys on Wednesday.

Lokomotiv returns home to face Lietkabelis

Lokomotiv (7-3) comes off a 76-86 victory over MoraBanc Andorra in which Erick McCollum shined to earn MVP of the Round honors for the third time this season. Alan Williams posted 17 points and 14 boards in that game and Lokomotiv will need strong production from him with big man Johnathan Motley sidelined. Lokomotiv is 4-0 at home this season. Lietkabelis (5-5) is riding high after back-to-back wins over Boulogne Metropolitans 92 and Slask Wroclaw. Panagiotis Kalaitzakis fired in 18 points last week against Slask. When these teams met in Round 2 in October. Lokomotiv prevailed 84-85 led by Darius Thompson’s double-double.

ratiopharm Ulm came into the game with a plan to beat Virtus Segafredo Bologna and followed it pretty closely to notch an impressive victory on Tuesday evening.



Ulm followed gameplan to stop Virtus

“I thought we did a very good job of defending off-ball screens to the point that we actually gave up a lot of offensive rebounds because we were out of position. We wanted to focus on that,” Ulm assistant coach Tyron McCoy, who was the head of bench for the second straight with head coach Jaka Lakovic out with illness, said after the game. “And then try to take away some of the post-ups from Weems.”

One way to defend those off-ball screens was to be more physical and Ulm’s players never seemed to stop fighting.

“I think they played with more physicality,” Coach Sergio Scariolo of Virtus admitted. “From the first possession, they were stronger, they were getting into bodies with more decisiveness. I don’t know how many times we fell on the floor tonight, so they overpowered us. Physically, we were not really ready to respond.”

As far as taking away the post-ups from Kyle Weems, the Virtus small forward is a fine three-point shooter, but he averaged just 3.5 attempts from deep heading into this game. On Tuesday, he was forced outside and shot 7 threes, of which only 1 went in.

What else was in the game plan? How about playing great defense?

“We play well when we defend,” Ulm’s leading scorer on the night, Jaron Blossomgame with 20 points, said. “We want to get out there, disrupt passing lanes, disrupt hand-offs, all of that. And obviously rebounds. Finishing a possession with a rebound is the most important thing. Fortunately, we did that tonight and those things translate into wins.”

Ulm didn’t just rebound well; it dominated the glass. The hosts outrebounded Virtus 51-34. That marked the third-most rebounds in club history and its 18 offensive rebounds tied for Ulm’s second-best ever. Cristiano Felicio led the way with 13 boards, Blossomgame had 11 and Sindarius Thornwell added 9.

And finally, by playing physical defense, which helped generate 11 steals, and controlling the rebounds, Ulm had many opportunities for easy buckets.

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ORANGE WINS 🧡<br><br>What a night! We are on top of @virtussegafredo - presented by <a href="https://twitter.com/bisonapp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bisonapp</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/uuulmer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#uuulmer</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/weareone?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#weareone</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/7dayseurocup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#7dayseurocup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EuroCup</a> <br>📸 Steiner <a href="https://t.co/Sr3z7RHdsh">pic.twitter.com/Sr3z7RHdsh</a></p>&mdash; ratiopharm ulm (@ratiopharmulm) <a href="https://twitter.com/ratiopharmulm/status/1486065924620926977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</center>

“When we get stops, we have guys that can push the ball and run in transition,” Blossomgame added. “We’re all in great shape. We’re all athletic. So we are a very dangerous transition team, but we can’t get transition if we don’t rebound. And fortunately, like I said, we did that tonight.”

Let’s review:

Defend off-ball screens. Check
Keep Weems from posting up. Check
Physical defense. Check
Control the glass. Check
Score in transition. Check

And that’s how ratiopharm Ulm led from start to finish, won every quarter and rolled to an 84-68 victory over Virtus.

Jaron Blossomgame celebrates - ratioharm Ulm (photo Larry Langer - Ulm) - EC21

ratiopharm Ulm v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2022-01-25T18:00:00.000Z)

Turk Telekom Ankara reached Round 11 with a perfect home record. It had a tough challenge ahead, however, as Partizan NIS Belgrade visited Ankara Spor Salonu and Turk Telekom was without its leading scorer, Aaron Harrison.



Turk Telekom remained unbeaten at home thanks to blistering shooting

Fueled by almost 5,000 diehard fans, Turk Telekom registered a brilliant 85-71 victory, dominating the game almost from start to finish and handing Partizan its third loss in Group A.

Outstanding shooting was Turk Telekom's key to winning the game. The hosts made 22 of 30 two-point shots. That 73.3% two-point shooting was a new club record, improving on the previous one of 70.6% against Boulogne Metropolitans 92 the week before. Until then, Turk Telekom's record was 70.0% two-point shooting against Zadar on March 3, 2009. Almost 13 years later, the club did better than that in consecutive games.

Turk Telekom made 11 of 23 three-pointers (47.8%) as well and dished a season-high 22 assists. In 67 EuroCup games over six campaigns, Turk Telekom has only served up more assists twice in the competition, getting 27 against CEZ Nymburk on February 2, 2010, and 26 against Siauliai on December 11, 2007.

Not only did Turk Telekom share the ball extremely well, but it forced Partizan into a bad shooting night, which was another big key to this game. The Serbian powerhouse was off-target from two-point (48.7%) and three-point range (29.4%) and even had a rare bad night from the foul line, making just 18 of 33 attempts (54.5%). Entering the game, Partizan had led the EuroCup in free throw percentage at 82.4% and went down to 78.6% in just one game.

"They deserved to win. They dominated the game from the first minute until the end of the game," Partizan head coach Zeljko Obradovic said after the game. "In many moments of the game, we were really slow, without any kind of energy. And this is the main thing: if you want to win the game, you need to play really hard and try to give everything you have inside of yourself."

With Harrison sidelined, Anthony Clemmons stepped up with the next-man-up mentality, recording a career-best performance against one of the best teams in the competition. He finished the game with a EuroCup personal-high 20 points on near-perfect shooting, hitting his only two-point try and all 5 of his attempts from downtown, missing only a free throw among his 4 attempts from the line. Clemmons also had 8 assists, matching his highest mark in the EuroCup, and a personal-best PIR of 32.

"I just try to bring what I can bring to win the game. I think we have been really desperate for a win like this," Clemmons said right after the game. "I am proud of our guys, we all came out ready to play and approached this game. You have to give Partizan credit, they came and put on a fight for 40 minutes. I am just happy for my guys and happy for this win. We needed it." Asked about its very good chances to reach the next round, Turk Telekom head coach Henrik Rodl did not want his players to get too ahead of themselves, but enjoy a very important win. "I think we have a very good chance to go to the next round, but there are still many games to be played," Coach Rodl said. "You don't win against the first in the group every day, so this is a special day for us. I thought our guys played very hard, and we look forward to playing some more games."

Alex Perez - Turk Telekom Ankara (photo Turk Telekom) - EC21

Turk Telekom Ankara v Partizan NIS Belgrade (2022-01-25T17:00:00.000Z)

Valencia Basket blasted Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 103-76 at La Fonteta on Tuesday night. The hosts trailed 12-15 after 7 minutes, but used strong runs to finish both the first and the second quarters to build a 53-33 lead that the visitors never threatened. Valencia improved to 8-3 to stay atop Group B, while Buducnost dropped to 7-4.

Valencia blows Buducnost out, 103-76

Martin Hermannsson led six Valencia scorers in double-figures with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Jasiel Rivero followed with 15 points in 16 minutes, Mike Tobey and Sam Van Rossom scored 12 apiece and Jaime Pradilla and Bojan Dubljevic contributed 11 and 10 respectively. Justin Cobbs and Vladimir Micov led the visitors by posting 15 points each and both Dennis Seeley and Willie Reed added 13 in the losing effort.

Pradilla got the hosts going with a nice turnaround move inside the paint and a fastbreak dunk that set an early 6-2 edge for Valencia. Cobbs and Reed came to the rescue and combined for a 0-7 run to get Buducnost ahead for the first time in the game. Both squads traded leads for a while, as both head coaches started to rotate and change lineups. Valencia decided to feed its frontcourt and it worked well. Free throws by Tobey and Rivero preceded a triple by Dubljevic that started a three-point rain in which Van Rossom and Louis Labeyrie had one each to make it 25-17 at the end of the first quarter.

Van Rossom kept punishing from outside to raise the difference to double-digits right after the game resumed as Buducnost looked stuck on offense. Dubljevic contributed 5 points in a row that made it more painful for the visitors, 33-17, after 13 minutes. Reed finished with an alley-oop dunk to break the trend and spark a 0-7 run that brought his team within 33-23 and forced a Valencia timeout. Even though Klemen Prepelic came out with a three right after that, the home team seemed to have lost momentum and allowed Micov to reduce the gap to 36-28. It turned out to be just an illusion, as a 15-0 spurt in which Tobey had 7 points boosted the hosts to a 53-33 halftime lead.

Valencia did not show any kind of relaxation when both teams returned to the court, as Dubljevic, Pradilla and Hermannsson extended the difference to 59-34. Buducnost tried to stay close through Reed and Seeley on offense as well as switching to a zone defense. The visitors managed to slow down the opponent’s attack and found some relief from the line. A triple by Marko Jagodic-Kuridza made it 66-51 and seemed to reanimate Buducnost, but Rivero showed up inside and Hermannsson drilled a buzzer-beating three to hold his team comfortably in charge at 75-55 entering the last period.

Rivero kept rocking early in the last stanza, scoring a layup and knocking down a triple that made it 81-60, almost burying Buducnost’s hopes with 7 minutes to go. Popovic went to the free-throw line to push his team below the 20-point margin, but it didn’t help Buducnost to get momentum. Hermannsson, Prepelic and Van Rossom took over from outside then, extending the margin to 93-69 and effectively securing the outcome.

Valencia blows out Buducnost, 103-76

Martin Hermannsson - Valencia Basket (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21

Valencia Basket v Buducnost VOLI Podgorica (2022-01-25T19:30:00.000Z)

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after such a close deal down the stretch.

Post-Game Quotes: Valencia 103-76 Buducnost


#### Joan Penarroya, Valencia Basket

 “After some weeks without playing here at home, we were eager to play at La Fontenta. We wanted to get back to playing rhythm and tonight, we were able to count on 11 players from the first team, so we were eager to have a good game and grab a win that could give us the confidence we need for the next challenges we have ahead of us. We knew we faced a good team, a very dangerous contender because if you let it play easy, it has very experienced players that can put you in big trouble. We started pretty well, despite some problems in our defensive rebounding that allowed them to stay into the game. We were good from the three-point line and controlled the pace of the game and that gave us a very important win.”


#### Aleksandar Dzikic, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica

 “Congratulations to Valencia, they played really well tonight. They were impressive inside, outside, shooting extremely well, even contested shots, some of them like really tough ones. We controlled it better in the third quarter, they didn’t score a three till the last shot, but in the last period, they made 5. It is what it is, they played really tough, really aggressive, and that was the key to the game. We had two tough road games in a three-day period, so I guess that’s one of the reasons for our performance tonight, but again, Valencia played really good basketball.”


#### Martin Hermannsson, Valencia Basket

 “It’s something we talked about before the game, that we wanted to play at our rhythm. Buducnost is a team that likes to play slower, calmer so we wanted to push the pace. For the first time this season, we had 11 guys from the first team, so I think everybody was really happy to be finally together. It’s still really early, we only had one week all together, so of course, there are going to be some ups and downs, but from now we want to keep on building to the end of the season and we want to be on the top when the right time comes.”

Vladimir Micov - Buducnost VOLI Podgorica (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21

Valencia Basket had impressive three-pointer accuracy in the first 20 minutes, as it finished the first half with 8 makes from just 11 attempts. The hosts nailed the first 6 three-point shots and it took 13 minutes to see a Valencia player miss from behind the arc. 

Valencia excels from long range to escape

Bojan Dubljevic and Sam Van Rossom had 2 each while Josep Puerto and Louis Labeyre nailed 1 apiece before Jasiel Rivero missed from deep. It kept raining later with Klemen Prepelic and Mike Tobey draining one more each to help Valencia build a 20-point margin which proved insurmountable.

Jasiel Rivero - Valencia Basket (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21

Valencia Basket displayed a solid and competitive performance in the early going and took a slight 12-15 advantage against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica midway through the first quarter, but Valencia punished them with a 13-2 run behind three-pointers by Dubljevic, Van Rossom and Lebeyrie to close the first quarter up 25-17. 

Strong late runs stop Buducnost

Later in the second, when the Montenegrin champs got within 36-28 with 4 minutes and a half before halftime, the home team blasted another run (15-0) that put Buducnost's back against the wall at halftime (53-33).

Mike Tobey - Valencia Basket (photo Miguel Angel Polo - Valencia) - EC21