A pair of veteran perimeter players, Kyle Weems of Virtus Segafredo Bologna and Klemen Prepelic of Valencia Basket, will be among the protagonists when the two 7DAYS EuroCup contenders clash in a Group B showdown on Wednesday night.
Head to head: Kyle Weems vs. Klemen Prepelic
Stats
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Both teams feature balanced offenses, and both players have been heavily involved in them so far this season.
Prepelic, who missed a season-opener but played in the last two games, is one of Valencia's five players averaging double digits in scoring with 12.5 points. Playing 22 minutes per game coming off the bench, he also averages 4.0 assists, on a pace for a career-high.
Weems, on the other hand, is Virtus starter playing second-most minutes. He is scoring 8.3 points per game, on 66.7% two-point shooting, but has struggled from long range so far this season. However, Weems has shined in other facets of the game, especially dishing career-highs in assists (3.3 apg.) and steals (2.0 spg.).
Prepelic, at 29 years of age, is in his sixth season with sixth different club. He made his debut with Banvit Bandirma in the 2013-14 campaign and has averaged 10.6 points over 70 appearances. He has starred in the last two campaigns, with 15.7 points per game in the 2017-18 season with Metropolitans and with 17.0 points for Joventut Badalona in the 2019-20 campaign.
The 32-year-old Weems is in his fifth EuroCup season and third with Virtus. He has made 61 appearances altogether, averaging 11.1 points for his career. While his best scoring season was in 2018-19 with Tofas Bursa, when he averaged 13.6 points on 48.7% three-point shooting, two other times he was close to winning the EuroCup crown. Last season he helped Virtus to open the season with 20 consecutive wins before they were ousted in the semifinals against UNICS Kazan. He went a step further back in his debut 2015-16 season when he helped Strasbourg into the EuroCup Finals.
En route to the finals that season, Weems and Strasbourg eliminated Prepelic, who was playing for EWE Baskets Oldenburg at the time. The two teams split road wins. Weems posted 10.5 points and 3.5 rebounds as Strasbourg went through, while Prepelic averaged 8.0 points and 2.5 assists.
Overall, Weems has averaged more points and has shot better from two-point and three-point ranges during his career. His has also been more of a factor on the glass and on defense. Prepelic plays more with the ball and has had a pair of significantly better scoring seasons than Weems.
Over the years, Prepelic and Weems have both developed their respective games to become more versatile and to help their teams in many ways other than scoring. Weems and Prepelic are ready to continue down that path in Round 4, as they are poised to play prominent roles in the collision between two European heavyweights.