Virtus (2-1) will look to complete a perfect double-round week and make it three wins in a row as it receives as visit from Zvezda (1-2). The rebounding battle will be very important, with Zvezda crashing the boards to the tune of a league-high 17.7 offensive rebounds per game, led by Luka Mitrovic with an average of 2.7. But Virtus can also compete physically, with experienced big men Jordan Mickey (6.3 rebounds per game), Toko Shengelia and Bryant Dunston all starting the season in good form. As he returns to face his former club, Zvezda playmaker Milos Teodosic will hope to recover his shooting accuracy after making just 1 of his 7 three-point attempts in Wednesday's home loss to Monaco.
Pre-game quotes: Virtus vs. Zvezda
Article
3 Mins read
Luca Banchi, Virtus head coach
"There is great focus on how we will be able to manage our energy in this back-to-back week. We face Zvezda, one of the teams that impressed the most in the summer for the market moves, not hiding the ambitions of wanting to be an absolute protagonist in EuroLeague. This will offer a great stimulus, together with the return of Teodosic, who has represented for all the virtussino people a basketball reference point in the last 4 seasons, contributing together with club, staff and teammates to achieve an impressive series of successes. We want to give our audience an evening of great basketball, measuring ourselves against opponents of extraordinary talent but replicating with the knowledge that we have weapons and resources to compete."
Dusko Ivanovic, Zvezda head coach
"We are playing against a team that plays extremely aggressively, in transition, has outstanding individuals. Shengelia can also play in the low post, shoot, create... They have outstanding shooters like Dobric, who plays great from the start. A very complete team."
Regular Season
Round 4 of 34
Regular Season
Virtus Segafredo BolognaVIR
8579
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet BelgradeCZV
Overview
w
w
w
l
l
l
l
w
Ognjen Dobric, Virtus player
"Zvezda is perhaps the best version of the team in recent years. They will definitely fight for the top eight spots in the EuroLeague standings because they are a very talented team. For us, it will definitely be a tough game to be faced with maximum concentration."
Branko Lazic, Zvezda player
"No time to lament after our previous game against Monaco. We are already expecting a match against a strong team tomorrow. They are physically dominant. We will use the little training time we have, try to play the best we can against strong phisical team in Bologna and try to score a victory."