Days after making his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debut, young Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul forward Yigit Hamza Mestoglu suffered an injury that will sideline him for an extended period of time. This past week, during practice ahead of Fenerbahce's game against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, the 19-year old ruptured his ACL, ending his first EuroLeague season. Mestoglu now awaits surgery, the club announced on Friday morning.

Fenerbahce loses youngster Mestoglu to ACL injury

Days after making his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debut, young Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul forward Yigit Hamza Mestoglu suffered an injury that will sideline him for an extended period of time. This past week, during practice ahead of Fenerbahce's game against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, the 19-year old ruptured his ACL, ending his first EuroLeague season. Mestoglu now awaits surgery, the club announced on Friday morning.

Mestoglu made his EuroLeague debut in Round 22 against Zalgiris Kaunas, when he played 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

This is his first year with Fenerbahce, where he arrived last summer. He joins a long list of currently injured Fenerbahce forwards, which includes Nigel Hayes-Davis, Syshawn Pierre, Nate Sestina, Tarik Biberovic and Metecan Birsen.

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">Yiğit Hamza Mestoğlu’nun sağlık durumu hakkında bilgilendirme<br> <br>🔗 <a href="https://t.co/fWnHjUwG3x">https://t.co/fWnHjUwG3x</a> <a href="https://t.co/luRWZHy1gO">pic.twitter.com/luRWZHy1gO</a></p>&mdash; Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBBasketbol/status/1750794275988578420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Talented forward suffered a season-ending injury.

The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 26 game between Anadolu Efes istanbul and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, scheduled for February 8, will be played at Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia, instead of Istanbul as originally scheduled.

 Round 26 Efes vs. Maccabi game relocated 

The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 26 game between Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, scheduled for February 8, will be played at Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia, instead of Istanbul as originally scheduled.

 

This decision has been taken considering Turkish and Israel government recommendations.

Round 26 Efes vs. Maccabi game relocated

Anadolu Efes Istanbul v Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (2024-02-08T17:30:00.000Z)

Dzanan Musa netted a team-high 20 points to lead Real Madrid to a 90-85 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 23. 

Another outstanding Musa performance against Olympiacos inspired Real Madrid sweep

Dzanan Musa netted a team-high 20 points to lead Real Madrid to a 90-85 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 23. *Los Blancos'* forward demonstrated for the second time this season that he enjoys playing against this specific rival, having also led Real Madrid to a 71-77 win in Piraeus in early December. Back in Round 12, Musa scored 23 of his team’s 77 points, including 5 triples made, which is his career best.

On Thursday night, the 24-year-old pulled off another outstanding display, going 4-for-7 both from inside and outside the arc. He also collected 5 rebounds and dished 3 assists in just over 23 minutes on the floor.

Real Madrid started strong and outscored Olympiacos 30-13 in the first quarter, before taking a 52-30 cushion into the second half.

“For us the first 5-7 minutes are the most important of the game,” Musa said after the game. “We’re trying to set the pace and then control the game from that. We did the right thing today and we won the game.”

Dzanan Musa shined again against Olympiacos

*Los Blancos* may have expected a reaction from the Greek side, but they didn’t manage to finish the game off until crunch time. This is where Musa stepped up and nailed back-to-back buckets to make it 86-78 with 1:21 left on the clock. A die-hard Olympiacos cut the difference to 86-83, but Facundo Campazzo, who recorded 12 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 8 drawn fouls, netted a basket from inside and a couple of free throws to put the game to bed.

“We didn’t do a great job on defense in the second half,” Campazzo noted. “We allowed them to score in different ways until the last 2 or 3 minutes. But if we want to fight for big things this season, we have to improve these kinds of situations in the game.”

Having lost 98-74 at AS Monaco last week, Real Madrid managed to get back to winning ways by securing its 11th home victory of the season. Hence, *Los Blancos* remain the only team in the 2023-24 EuroLeague that has yet to record a home defeat. Having improved to a 20-3 record, the reigning champion hosts LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and then plays away at EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in the upcoming double-round week. Boasting a red-hot Musa, who averages a team-high 13.6 points in 21:27 minutes this season, Real Madrid will look to extend its winning streak to three games.

Game Videos

Game News

Los Blancos' forward has averaged 21.5 points against the Reds this season. 

Real Madrid v Olympiacos Piraeus (2024-01-25T19:45:00.000Z)

LDLC ASVEL beat FC Bayern Basketball 64-76 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season, with its consistent performance paying dividends on the night.

Consistency proved key for LDLC ASVEL in win at FC Bayern Basketball

“Consistent. We played consistent for almost 40 minutes. That was the word of the day,” explained LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne head coach Pierric Poupet in the post-game press conference after [his side beat FC Bayern Munich 64-76 at BMW Arena](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/news/euroleague-live-blog-fc-bayern-basketball-vs-ldlc-asvel/) on Thursday night.

A single word and a simple concept that the visitors took to an upper level to grab their first win on the road since November 13, 2023, when they beat ALBA Berlin in what was also a very effective defensive effort (68-73). Thursday’s triumph at Bayern was the second time ASVEL gave up less than 70 points to its opponent, and it was a key factor in the win. 

### ASVEL frustrated Bayern

Despite taking a 17-12 lead after 8 minutes, Bayern struggled all game long both with its shooting and rebounding against Poupet’s squad. Come the final buzzer, the best-ranked team in rebounding lost the battle of the boards 40-26, while Bayern also recorded a below-par shooting night, having gone 24-of-59 from the field goal (40.6%).

“I’m so happy you cannot even imagine because they deserve it and stuck to the game plan,” stated Poupet right after the game. “Sometimes it happens like this. We had a great game. We’ve taken a huge step defensively of late. We showed it today. We started this a couple of weeks ago now and we stayed consistent for about 40 minutes. I hope that we can build on that.”

Bayern boosted their confidence with a German derby victory over ALBA, in which Danko Brankovic enjoyed a breakout game to further add to Pablo Laso’s options. Meanwhile, bottom-placed ASVEL hope Mike Scott can recover his scoring threat after reaching double-digits in only one of his last four.

FC Bayern Munich-LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne | Round 23 Highlights | 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague

In a game in which both teams had several players missing, ASVEL was the side which coped best. Bayern didn’t have [Serge Ibaka](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/serge-ibaka/003583/) inside, among some other players on its roster, while [Devin Booker](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/devin-booker/007056/) had to leave the game sooner than expected due to a sprained ankle.

### Dominating inside

That was exploited by [Youssoupha Fall](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/youssoupha-fall/006568/) and [Mbaye Ndiaye](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/mbaye-ndiaye/012731/), who combined for 24 rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive end, to set the foundations for ASVEL’s dominance. Fall finished with a monster double-double of 16 points and 13 boards, which is his second double-double in a row and his fourth so far this season. He became an unstoppable force inside and an invaluable asset for his team when it needed to control the pace of the game.

“It's a good win for us,” Fall championed. “It's good for the mentality because this is being really tough for us, you know. We are all happy, we are happy to get this win, as Bayern is usually a really strong team, especially at home. Defensively, we were more focused and this made the difference.”

<center>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TOGETHER 💪<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LDLCASVEL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LDLCASVEL</a> <a href="https://t.co/F1j79lSaOX">pic.twitter.com/F1j79lSaOX</a></p>&mdash; LDLC ASVEL (@LDLCASVEL) <a href="https://twitter.com/LDLCASVEL/status/1750637610253361182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ASVEL was also without some important players, too, such as [Nando De Colo](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/nando-de-colo/002100/), [Charles Kahudi](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/charles-kahudi/kir/) and [Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/timothe-luwawu-cabarrot/012080/), which made for a tough situation with ASVEL’s backcourt rotation. But another player who stepped forward and contributed to ASVEL’s consistency was [Paris Lee](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/paris-lee/011225/), who played 34:24 minutes and posted 21 points and 4 assists to lead his team in scoring.

“Mostly I'm happy for my coach,” he commented. “It's been a tough situation here and for him to step up and lead us the way he's leading us, I give a big congrats to him and a congrats to my team. We played really hard today. \[What we can take from this one is\] just play freely. We’ve got nothing to lose, to be honest. We're trying to build our chemistry. So just keep getting better and just try to get a winning mentality.”

More ASVEL News

Edwin Jackson of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne looks to score against Carsen Edwards of FC Bayern Munich in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The French team got its third road win of the season behind a 16-point, 13-rebound effort from Youssoupha Fall.

Consistency proved key for ASVEL in win at Bayern 

FC Bayern Munich v LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (2024-01-25T19:30:00.000Z)

ALBA Berlin delighted its fans with an impressive 89-80 home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, improving to 5-18 while the visitors dropped to 9-14 and dented their hoped of reaching the playoffs.

Strong defense and Matt Thomas’s shooting lifted ALBA Berlin past Zvezda

ALBA Berlin delighted its fans with an impressive 89-80 home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, improving to 5-18 while the visitors dropped to 9-14 and dented their hoped of reaching the playoffs.

Zvezda’s inconsistency once again came back to haunt the Serbian team, as ALBA dominated the boards and dished out 10 assists more (19-9) than its rival. The home side’s rugged approach allowed it to carve out a 70-48 lead late in the third quarter, on the back of rock solid defending and decent shooting from open looks.

[Matt Thomas](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/players/matt-thomas/008967/) finished on a EuroLeague career high of 19 points and Gabriele Procida added 17, with ALBA winning the battle in the paint as it racked up 42 rebounds to Zvezda’s 35. Yanni Wetzell was instrumental in that department, having collected 9 boards to go with 11 points.

“We were rebounding and getting out of transition, we moved the ball really well and played hard-paced basketball,” Wetzell said after the game. “Rebounding was the emphasis that we talked about in the last two days and we were able to facilitate our transition today thanks to controlling the boards. I am in a good moment right now, feeling confident and getting some great opportunities."

Matt Thomas shined against Crvena Zvezda

Thomas credited his fine performance with Martin Hermannsson’s calm and collected display, as the Icelandic playmaker facilitated the offense with 7 points and 5 assists, most of them giving Thomas time and space to deliver from the perimeter.

Hermannsson returned to ALBA earlier this month from Valencia after undergoing knee surgery twice following ligament damage in 2022. Against Zvezda, he made a telling impact after coming off the bench to pull the strings on the offensive end.

“All the work we’ve been putting in all season is now showing as we’ve started to play better basketball,” Thomas commented. “Getting Martin Hermannsson back has helped a lot because he is a point guard who knows what he’s doing out there. I am a guy who plays off the ball and those shots I made tonight came off Martin’s assists, I am happy that he’s here. It’s been a tough up-and-down year but we’re improving, slowly but surely,” he added.

The home team’s coach Israel Gonazlez also pointed to rebounding as the key to subduing Zvezda. “We won the boards against such a good rebounding team and that was so important defensively because everything starts with defense,” he said. “If we defend well, we give ourselves a better chance of playing good offense.”

His counterpart Ioannis Sfairopoulos lamented over the all too familiar script of Zvezda perennially giving itself a mountain to climb and coming up short in late fightbacks.

“They outscored us 33-20 in the second quarter and that was the key,” he said. “We fought back in the fourth quarter and had an open shot after we slashed the deficit to 5 points, but it’s not enough to win an away game.”

ALBA outmuscled Zvezda and won the battle under the boards to beat a more heralded rival.

ALBA Berlin v Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade (2024-01-25T19:00:00.000Z)

Real Madrid Baloncesto survived a late comeback by Olympiacos B.C. as it won 90-85 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

Real Madrid Baloncesto holds off Olympiacos B.C., 90-85

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Gabriel Deck of Real Madrid looks to pass the ball against Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The Reds came close to a famous comeback, but Los Blancos pulled away in the closing stages.

Real Madrid holds off Olympiacos, 90-85

LDLC ASVEL beat FC Bayern Basketball 64-76 at BMW Park in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

LDLC ASVEL dominates FC Bayern Basketball on the road, 64-76

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Deshaun Thomas of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne is guarded by Isaac Bonga of FC Bayern Munich in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

Moustapha Fall and Paris Lee inspired the French side to its third win in the last five games.

ASVEL dominates Bayern on the road, 64-76

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv needed to bounce back and found a way to do it on Thursday night with a 90-75 win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens. Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown stepped up in the fourh quarter to lead Maccabi to victory.



Maccabi 'back on track' with win over Panathinaikos

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv needed to bounce back and found a way to do it on Thursday night with a 90-75 win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.

"We've been in a bit of a rough patch, but it was a good game to get us back on track", said Wade Baldwin, who led all scorers with 22 points and also had 8 assists in this game.

The rough patch he was talking about have been two consecutive Turkish Airlines EuroLeague losses, but also two Israeli League defeats in the last five days. Coach Oded Kattash said that those results left a mark on his team: "We lost our way, our confidence, our energy. But we reacted in the right way."

Maccabi did not open the game well. Panathinaikos was having its way on the offensive glass with 13 boards in the first two quarters and with Kendrick Nunn scoring 13 points, the visitors led 29-35 with 4:33 left in the first half.

But that's when things started to turn.

Maccabi finished the first half with a 14-1 run to hold a 43-36 lead at halftime and then had a strong start to the second half to open a 55-42 advantage.

The Greens, who came into this game on a four-game winning streak but without Kostas Sloukas and Luca Vildoza, did not go away. Panathinaikos got back in the game behind not-your-usual suspects – Jerian Grant, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, and a three-pointer from Marius Grigonis closed the gap to 64-62 early in the fourth quarter.

However, that's when Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown stepped up, restored Maccabi's control and led it to victory.

"It was really important to remind ourselves if we are focused and we come out with the right energy, we are really a good team", Katash said after the game, visibly pleased with his team's effort.

Maccabi allowed just 7 offensive rebounds in the second half, and only 2 in the fourth quarter. Maccabi also forced 5 turnovers in the fourth quarter

And by scoring 28 points in the last 10 minutes, Maccabi completed a season sweep of Panathinaikos. With four road games coming up, including a trip to Real Madrid on Tuesday, it was a much need victory for Coach Kattash and his men.

Maccabi put its recent losses behind to pull out a hard-fought win and restore its shaken confidence.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv v Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (2024-01-25T19:05:00.000Z)

ALBA Berlin beat playoff-chasing KK Crvena zvezda 89-80 in Round 23 of the 2023-24 EuroLeague season.

ALBA Berlin beats KK Crvena zvezda, 89-80, thanks to strong first half

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Martin Hermannsson of ALBA Berlin is guarded by Yago Dos Santos of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in Round 23 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.

The German side dealt a blow to the Serbian team's hopes of making the EuroLeague Playoffs.

Fenerbahce loses youngster Mestoglu to ACL injury

Round 26 Efes vs. Maccabi game relocated

Another outstanding Musa performance against Olympiacos inspired Real Madrid sweep

Consistency proved key for ASVEL in win at Bayern

Strong defense and Matt Thomas’s shooting lifted ALBA Berlin past Zvezda

Real Madrid holds off Olympiacos, 90-85

ASVEL dominates Bayern on the road, 64-76

Maccabi 'back on track' with win over Panathinaikos

ALBA beats Crvena Zvezda, 89-80, thanks to strong first half