An important game in January, at the Unipol Forum, is going to be played on Sunday. Olimpia and Trieste have the same win-loss record and since the race towards the playoffs can be considered on, the outcome will have a great effect on the future of the two teams. Olimpia needs to win to rebuild its confidence level after three consecutive defeats and stay in pursuit of the top four spots in the standings. In the Trieste game, Olimpia lost by six points (84-78) so the points difference can also be corrected. But a game with a physical and technical impact will be needed because Trieste – having overcome a moment of difficulty – has won five of the last six games including the last three, is at full strength and has three American guards of high quality and experience in Colbey Ross, Markel Brown and Denzel Valentine. In Trieste all three of them, plus Jeff Brooks, caused great trouble. Furthermore, Milan comes to this game with some personnel problems. The team that played in Istanbul is the same one that will play against Trieste. Compared to last Sunday’s trip to Venice, there is no Nikola Mirotic, Neno Dimitrijevic is back on the court, while Zach LeDay will offer yet another demonstration of generosity by going onto the court despite his bad left shoulder. “Playing against Trieste means being very balanced on offense to have a solid transition defense and defensively we’ll need to contain their penetrations in order to limit the number of catch-and-shoot threes generated,” Assistant Coach Mario Fioretti said after the last practice.
Tip-off time at Unipol Forum will be 17:00 on Sunday, 26 th of January.
TRIESTE OUTLOOK – The guards are the heart and soul of the Trieste team, coached by Jamion Christian, in his second year in Italy, the former coach of Siena College and George Washington University in America. Colbey Ross (15.1 points and 4.4 assists on average), MVP of the Italian league in 2023 with Varese and in Tortona last season, is Trieste’s point guard. His back-up is a local product, Michele Ruzzier (6.7 points and 2.5 assists per game, 44.5 percent on threes), fast, shooter and competitive. The two shooting guards are another veteran of the Italian league, Markel Brown (16.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, 41.5 percent from three on six attempts), who won the 2024 Italian Cup with Napoli, and Denzel Valentine, a former first round NBA pick and college player of the year. Valentine is producing 16.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists per game. Luca Campogrande can also give minutes at the small forward position: on average he plays 7.5 minutes per game. Another multifunctional player is the Mexican Justin Reyes (3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game) who has so far been affected by some injuries. The power forward is Jarrod Uthoff (13.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game), a former star of the Japanese league, and a fearsome three-point shooter (38.5 percent on over five attempts), and the center is Jayce Johnson (8.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game on average). But they are fortified by the very experienced Jeff Brooks (9.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, 75.9 percent from two, 46.7 percent from three), another ex-Milan player, and by two combative Italian players like Francesco Candussi (7.0 points per game) who brings a lot of quality and some shooting, and Lodovico De Angeli.
THE TRIESTE CONNECTION – Stefano Tonut, although born in Cantù, is from Trieste, from a Trieste family. His father Alberto played in Trieste in the 80s; Stefano made his debut in A2 in Trieste before moving to Venice. Jeff Brooks, who played for Olimpia from 2018 to 2021, winning the Super Cup twice and the Italian Cup once, as well as having played in the 2021 Final Four, is now in Trieste. Denzel Valentine played the final part of last season in Milan, contributing to win the Italian league championship.
