Host Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (0-6) will be looking for its first win of the season when it welcomes ratiopharm Ulm (3-3) on Tuesday night in a Group A duel. This will be the seventh time these two teams meet in the EuroCup in one of the classic duels amongst the 20 teams this season. They currently stand at 3-3 in their head-to-head record. Cedevita dropped another game last week at Lietkabelis, 104-98, despite Amar Alibegovic's 19 points. On the other hand, Ulm comes from a heroic 105-106 decision at Prometey, in which Yago Dos Santos's 26 points plus 10 assists helped his team break its scoring mark in the 7DAYS EuroCup.
Winless Cedevita looks for maiden win against Ulm
Cedevita is having big problems this season; it has the worst defense in the EuroCup (91.5 ppg.) and is also the team against which opponents rack up the highest average PIR (105.8). A win could be what it needs to start turning things around, but the team would still be far from being on the road to recovery. Ulm comes from a reinvigorating road win and will now look to take its second straight road success against a wounded opponent. On paper, the visitors overpower the hosts on almost every front (they are even fourth-best in the league in assists), while Cedevita is fourth-best in turnovers (13.0) and seventh-best in free throws (78.0%).
Curiously enough, Cedevita has five players averaging double digits this season, with Yogi Ferrell (18.8 ppg.) at the helm. The hosts will need those players to join together and find good shooting options while, at the same time, they improve on defense to try to stop Ulm. The visitors are led by Dos Santos (13.0 ppg. plus 4.7 apg. in a brilliant breakthrough season) and Karim Jallow (11.2 ppg.). This is already starting to look like a do-or-die game for Cedevita, so expect the game to be an intense one.