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Who's hot: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Segafredo Bologna

Who's hot: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Segafredo Bologna

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Who's hot: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Segafredo Bologna

As the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action resumed this week after a week-long break, 10-year veteran Tornike Shengelia of Virtus Segafredo Bologna (11-13) is motivated to continue where he left off as one of the hottest players in the last month.

Shengelia missed nine of the first 11 games of the season due to injuries, playing only in Rounds 6 and 7. Once he got through those problems, which started in late August with a shoulder injury, it took Shengelia a few weeks to pick up steam.

Once he had done so, however, the Virtus forward has become one of the most productive players in the league.

In his first nine appearances, Shengelia scored in double figures four times and averaged 9.3 points per game. He knocked down 58.3% of his three-point shots, but took only 12 of those in nine games compared to 58 two-point attempts, on which he had just 39.7% accuracy.

The versatile forward also posted 2.3 and 2.1 assists, and had an average PIR of 8.0, never accumulating a performance index rating higher than 13 in any of the games before Round 19.

That Round 19 game, a tight home loss against league leader Olympiacos Piraeus, marked a turning point for Shengelia, who has since boosted his contribution for Virtus in all facets of the game. That includes scoring 10 or more points in five of his last six games, raising his scoring average to 11.7 points over that span.

Shengelia has done so by scoring on 63.6% of his two-point attempts while also posting 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steals.

Two games that particularly stand out are Shengelia's posting 16 points, a career-high 7 assists and 3 steals in a home win over Panathinaikos Athens in Round 20, as well as posting 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in a home win over Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.

Those led to Shengelia averaging a PIR of 17.2 since Round 19. Only five players in the league have accumulated a higher PIR over these last six rounds than Shengelia's 103.

Now, the veteran forward will have a super-busy few days. After playing for the national team of Georgia on Thursday night in the Netherlands, Shengelia will try to maintain his momentum and help Virtus keep its position firm in the playoff race in an important home clash against Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (13-11) on Friday night.

Shengelia then plans to wrap up a busy four-day stretch by heading home to Georgia and playing for the national team in a key home game against Iceland on Sunday.