The guard scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as ASVEL regained control late
Glynn Watson inspires ASVEL to first road win of the season at Virtus
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 26 of 38
Regular Season
Virtus BolognaVIR
7080
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
Overview
l
w
l
l
w
w
l
l
l
l
Some 390 days after last tasting a road win in the EuroLeague, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne finally rediscovered that feeling with a 70-80 victory over Virtus Bologna on Wednesday night.
A dominant first half saw ASVEL completely outhustle Virtus, aided by a big lineup featuring Braian Angola, Paul Eboua, Zac Seljaas and Armel Traore around guard Glynn Watson. The visitors pulled down nine offensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, compared to 13 total rebounds for Virtus, with Eboua grabbing three offensive boards of his own. ASVEL also capitalized on nine Virtus turnovers, as sloppy play marked the hosts’ first-half performance. All of that allowed ASVEL to take a 33-43 lead into the break.
Despite Virtus being without Matt Morgan, Alessandro Pajola and Momo Diouf, ASVEL head coach Pierric Poupet admitted at halftime that he was expecting a different performance from Dusko Ivanovic’s men in the second half – and so it proved. Carsen Edwards and Luca Vildoza combined to devastating effect as Virtus wiped out the 10-point deficit and moved ahead 54–53 in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter. A Watson drive and layup, however, ensured it was ASVEL holding the edge heading into the final frame.
That basket – which moved Watson to seven points – proved to be a turning point. He opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and then, after being fouled by Daniel Hackett on another attempt from deep, made all three free throws to push ASVEL 54-61 ahead. Another Watson three, this time in transition, restored a double-digit lead at 56-66. In the final 35 seconds, he added an assist on Mbaye Ndiaye’s alley-oop and knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the 70-80 win and cap a 19-point night.
“(The key was) just staying with it,” Watson told EuroLeague TV afterward. “Believing in myself. My teammates believe in me. Just bouncing back. I had a rough game in the last game, so I just wanted to bounce back.”
ASVEL entered Wednesday’s Round 26 matchup having last won on the road in Round 20 of the 2024–25 season, a 76-82 victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul on January 10, 2025. More than a year later, the French side finally brought its road woes to an end.
“It’s just resilience. Believing in ourselves,” Watson added. “Taking it one game at a time. We’ve been in a lot of games, close games, and it’s just about finishing it in the fourth quarter. That’s what we did tonight.”
Poupet echoed those sentiments, even if he was happier with ASVEL’s first-half display than its performance after halftime.
“It’s called resilience,” he said. “It’s the first one for us in 2026, and it’s the first one on the road, period, this season. I’m very happy for the guys. I’m proud of them also.
“It’s never easy – every EuroLeague game is a war. I think we played a much better first half than second. We controlled the rebounds much better in the first half. But at the end of the day, if you play with the right energy and you play together, you have a good chance to win, and that’s what they showed today. So congratulations to them.”
The win was not enough to lift ASVEL off the bottom of the standings, but it was the kind of result – and performance – that can instill confidence. Both FC Barcelona and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens were pushed hard by ASVEL in recent weeks, even though the team entered Round 26 on a six-game losing streak. Now, heading back to LDLC Arena for the second half of this double-round week, ASVEL will have its first home win of 2026 firmly in its sights.
Virtus, meanwhile, saw its postseason hopes take a significant hit. The Italian side now sits three wins behind AS Monaco for the final play-in spot. With 12 games still to play, there is time to close that gap, but a home loss to ASVEL was not in the script. How Virtus responds, beginning with a trip to Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday, will say a lot about the group.
