Tuesday Play-In games preview

MIES (Switzerland) – After ringing in the new year, it will now be time to ring in the Play-In round of the Basketball Champions League, and it begins with three exciting games on January 4.

Here’s a look at the three Play-In games on Tuesday:

Game 1: E2 Igokea m:tel (3-3) vs. F3 Filou Oostende (3-3)

Where: Laktasi, Bosnia and Herzegovina

When: 18:30

Igokea: PPG 76.7 (22), RPG 42.5 (1), APG 17.7 (16)

Oostende: PPG 86.0 (3), RPG 36.0 (14), APG 21.3 (1)

Igokea have won their last two BCL games but have yet to win three games in a row in the competition. They have won seven of their nine home games in the BCL but only two of those nine games ended with a double-digit margin.
Oostende have won their last two away games in the BCL after losing the previous six; each of those two wins ended with margins of less than three points.
Igokea are the only team to have seen their opponents scoring fewer than 20 points per game from their bench players in the BCL this season (15.7); however, they have conceded on average the most points from fast-break situations (15.3 per game).
Only Treviso’s Aaron Jones (54) has grabbed more rebounds than Igokea’s Dalibor Ilic (51) in the BCL this season; his teammate De’Shawn Stephens is the only player to have grabbed more than 20 offensive rebounds so far (27).
Phil Booth scored 30 points in his last game against SIG Strasbourg, second-best tally for a Filou Oostende player in a BCL game (Braian Angola, 33 vs. Torun in December 2019); he has averaged 17.7 points per game in his last three appearances in the competition, after averaging 9.3 points per game in his first three.

Game 2: C2 JDA Dijon (3-3) vs. D3 VEF Riga (2-4)

Where: Dijon, France

When: 20:30

Dijon: PPG 73.7 (29), RPG 33.3 (25), APG 16.8 (19)

Riga: PPG 77.2 (18), RPG 35.3 (18), APG 20.0 (4)

Dijon have won eight of their last nine home games in the BCL, with seven of those wins ending with a double-digit margin, including each of their three home games this season.
Riga have only won two of their 16 away games in the BCL, losing each of the most recent seven; eight of their last nine away games in the competition ended with a single-digit margin.
No team has had more steals per game than Dijon in the BCL this season (9.7) and only two teams have scored on average more points from turnover than them (19.2 per game).
Dijon’s Abdoulaye Loum has scored 10+ points in each of his last three BCL games, as many times as in his previous 33 games in the competition.
Only four players have scored more three-pointers than Riga’s Kristers Zoriks (17) in the BCL 2021-22; however, Riga have lost the last six games where Zoriks made 3+ shots from behind the arc.

Game 3: H2 Hereda San Pablo Burgos (4-2) vs. G3 Darussafaka (2-4)

Where: Burgos, Spain

When: 20:30

Burgos: PPG 81.2 (7), RPG 34.2 (23), APG 20.0 (4)

Darussafaka: PPG 76.5 (23), RPG 36.8 (10), APG 14.5 (30)

Burgos have won their previous two encounters with Darussafaka in the BCL, including a 30-point win at home in December 2020 (100-70), their second-biggest win in the competition.
Darussafaka have lost each of their six away games in the BCL, however, they lost the most recent three with a single-digit margin after losing the previous three with margins of 10+ points.
43.1% of Burgos’ total points in the BCL this season came from three-pointers, the highest among all teams; they are also the most accurate team from behind the arc, successfully making 42.4% of their attempts.
Burgos’ Alex Renfroe ended 2021 as the only player with 100+ assists that year in the BCL (102); in fact, no other player had more than 83 assists in the competition last year.
Darussafaka’s Dogus Özdemiroglu has 19 steals in the BCL this season, as no other player has tallied more than 13 steals so far in the competition; however, it’s his teammate Gabriel Olaseni who has conceded the most turnovers (26).