It was a special game for Frutti Extra Bursaspor, its first home game since its unforgettable 2022 7DAYS EuroCup playoffs, in which it got three consecutive road wins before losing against Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the championship game.
Short-handed Bursaspor grabbed epic win



Things did not look good for Bursaspor. New signing Sindarius Thornwell had not been registered and the team was without two injured players, Zach Auguste and Enes Taksiran. Coach Dusan Alimpijevic only had seven senior players at his disposal, but this time, its fans were on its side. Bursaspor was short-handed during its playoffs run and Coach Alimpijevic adjusted roles to make the team more effective.
This time, there was no need to, as its three stars stepped up big. Ahmet Duverioglu dominated the paint, finishing the game with 14 points and 13 rebounds. He had twice as many offensive rebounds (6) as the entire Joventut squad (3). Onuralp Bitim set the tone early and ended up with 18 points and a PIR of 16 in almost 35 minutes. Floor general Derek Needham led all scorers with 24 points and stepped up big in crunch time.
Game Videos
"We played against the biggest favorite in our group and played a game like this, with seven players in our rotation. What can I say? Please put the beep, this is group of big mother----ers," Coach Alimpijevic said after the game before praising the over 5,400 fans present at Tofas Spor Salonu. "For sure, this is not possible, this is not normal to do, with seven players, if you don't have support like this, so big thanks to our fans. What can I say? I am really honored to be in a club that has fans like this."