The 26-year-old guard erupted with a career-best performance
Round 2 MVP: DJ Stewart, Cedevita
Awards
3 Mins read
A stellar individual performance in a big road victory allowed DJ Stewart to earn MVP honors for BKT EuroCup Regular Season Round 2 with a PIR of 41. Stewart led Cedevita to an 84-99 come-from-behind victory over Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem with 27 points on 7-of-9 two-point shooting. He made 2 of 4 three-pointers and was perfect on 7 free throw attempts. Stewart added 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn. In 37 previous EuroCup career games with Cedevita, Stewart's highest PIR had been 23 until now.
The Round 2 runner-up was Fatts Russell of U-BT Cluj-Napoca, who amassed a PIR of 38 in his team's 102-107 road win at Neptunas Klaipeda. Russell had 37 points on 7-of-13 three-point shooting. He also made 8 of 9 free throws, dished 5 assists, swiped 2 steals and drew 14 fouls, which tied the EuroCup single-game record.
Marko Simonovic of Turk Telekom Ankara posted a PIR of 33 against Cosea JL Bourg en Bresse. He had 27 points on 7-of-9 two-point shooting, 2-of-4 on three-pointers and 7-of-7 on free throws. Simonovic also collected 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 fouls drawn. Jaylen Hands of Panionios Athens, DeVante Jones of Dolomiti Energia Trento, and Skylar Mays of Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, each with a PIR of 29, completed the top individual performances in Round 2.
Individual highs: Fatts Russell of Cluj, 37 points
Among the many players who stood out in Round 2, here are the weekly and season-long leaders in the main statistical categories:
Fatts Russell of U-BT Cluj-Napoca was the round's top scorer with 37 points in his team's 102-107 road win over Neptunas Klaipeda. He is also the competition's top scorer with 29.0 points per game.
Zacharie Perrin of Veolia Towers Hamburg pulled down 14 rebounds in Round 2 to top the charts. Perrin also ranks first overall with 12.5 rebounds per night.
Markel Starks of Panionios Athens was the only player who reached double digits in assists, dishing 11 against ratiopharm ulm. Arnas Velicka of Neptunas is the competition's assists leader with 8.5 per game.
Dogus Ozdemiroglu of Turk Telekom Ankara collected 6 steals in Round 2, which matched a club record. Before him, Chris Williams had 6 steals for Turk Telekom in a 73-81 road victory over ALBA Berlin on January 15, 2008. Ozdemiroglu also leads the EuroCup in steals with 4.5 per night.
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu of BAXI Manresa, Jakob Forester of Aris Thessaloniki Betsson and Amedeo Tessitori of Umana Reyer Venice each had 3 blocks in Round 2. Akobundu-Ehiogu and Jerusalem’s Justin Smith are tied for first place at 2.0 blocks per night.
Simonovic, Perrin, Trevion Williams of Bahcesehir College Istanbul and Nathan Mensah of Cluj all recorded respective double-doubles in Round 2.