Olimpia returned from Madrid last night, practiced today, and tomorrow at the Allianz Cloud it will face an opponent very confident after its resounding win in Villeurbanne. Starting from now every game will have a lasting impact on the season. The Madrid debacle is behind the team. As Bryant Dunston used to say, “in the EuroLeague, you have to put the games behind you, good or bad, because in a matter of hours you have to get back on the court.” In an even more tough situation, Olimpia played a memorable game in Athens just two weeks ago, but these days Real Madrid is almost unplayable: they’re a team that isn’t suffering from injuries, that can use a deep roster with talent, and can get players from the bench with no setbacks. Against a healthy team, Olimpia quickly lost confidence. But that game is behind, and tomorrow Olimpia have to beat Zalgiris, as it did in Kaunas. Zalgiris is a solid team, with a key scorer in Sylvain Francisco, the vertical power of Moses Wright in the paint, and plenty of useful players, even if Nigel Williams-Goss is going to be out, who can rise to leading roles. In the Kaunas game, Arnas Butkevicius had a spectacular first half, followed by Azoulas Tubelis, who has continued to play at a very high level in his first EuroLeague season. Olimpia needs to regain defensive stability and more consistent performance across the entire roster, two things that the return of Leandro Bolmaro should make more achievable.
NOTES – Olimpia Milano- Zalgiris Kaunas is scheduled to be played in Allianz Cloud, Milan, on January 22, 2026, at 20:30.
THE REFEREES – Mehdi Difallah (France), Tomasz Trawicki (Poland), Thomas Bissuel (France)
COACH PEPPE POETA– “From now on, all EuroLeague games will be important and crucial to staying in contention for the postseason. Zalgiris is a team with great organization and the ability to play together. It will be crucial for us to establish our physicality right from the start, using our bodies to prevent Zalgiris from gaining rhythm and flow. Our fans will give us an extra push to achieve this goal.”
ZALGIRIS OUTLOOK – Zalgiris is a team that frequently changes its starting five. The only sure thing is Nigel Williams-Goss, who has always been a starter when available, but has so far played only 14 games, averaging 12.1 points and 3.4 assists per night, shooting 41.4 percent from three. He’s usually joined by French international Sylvain Franciso, who has 20 starts out of 23, averaging over 26.1 minutes, and is the team’s leading scorer with 16.1 points per game on 41.8 percent three-point shooting. Franciso also averages 6.9 assists per game in his breakout season. The other guards are Maodo Lo (6.9 points and 2.5 assists per game, 40.3 percent from three), Deividas Syrvidis (5.4 points per game), a shooter with an NBA background, and another former NBA player, Ignas Brazdeikis (4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per game), a one-on-one player and fast break specialist. The small forwards are Arnas Butkevicius (5.7 points per game, 70.4 percent from two, 51.3 from three), who was outstanding in the Kaunas games, and veteran Edgaras Ulanovas (6.2 points and 2.0 assists per game, 38.5 percent from three), an experienced left-handed player who can operate in the low post. The starting power forward is Azuolas Tubelis, who also boasts a season in Arizona in his resume and is one of the best rookies in this EuroLeague season. He’s averaging 11.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, shooting 59.8 percent from two and 43.2 percent from three. The back-up is Duston Sleva (6.1 points per game on 39.3 percent three-point shooting). The center duo is made up of Moses Wright and Laurynas Birutis. Wright is an explosive, vertical player, a great offensive rebounder (averaging 2.1 per game), who scores 12.3 points per game on 66.7 percent from two and adds 5.8 rebounds. Birutis is a player with size, who clogs the middle and knows how to finish at the rim (5.5 points per game on 70.4 percent two-point shooting).
ZALGIRIS CONNECTION – Zach LeDay played one season in Kaunas, in 2019/20. At the end of that year, he transferred to Olimpia Milano. He played 28 games and scored 329 points. In 2021/22, Josh Nebo played in Kaunas, scoring 245 points and 174 rebounds in 28 games. Bryant Dunston has spent the whole last season in Kaunas, appearing in 34 games 16 of them as a starter with 139 points, 113 rebounds grabbed. Finally, Maodo Lo, in his first season in Kaunas, has spent one season in Milan – 2023/24 – with 159 points in 21 EuroLeague games. He helped the team win the Italian league championship.
