For the first “Monday Night” of its season, Olimpia heads to Cremona, for a so-called derby. Cremona has a record of 1-6, is navigating in the penultimate position in the standings, ahead of Napoli, but has just made an important correction to its roster by bringing shooter Payton Willis back to Italy from Spain. Willis made his debut by scoring 24 points in 28 minutes on the court against Brescia, last Sunday. He, along point guard Corey Davis, a player with great personality who used to play next to Armoni Brooks at Houston University, and the big-time leaper Tariq Owens represent the cornerstones around which Vanoli is trying to build its season. “With Willis they are even more talented – assistant coach Mario Fioretti said – On top of that, they are capable to be aggressive on the perimeter while still protecting the rim. So, controlling the tempo will be paramount for us.”
Olimpia faces this game after a roller-coaster week in the EuroLeague, with a painful defeat in Berlin and a great win in Belgrade, but above all with a lot of tiredness and some aches and pains. Compared to the Belgrade game, Stefano Tonut should be back, and Shavon Shields is also expected to return, albeit with limited playing time, in addition to Ousmane Diop (in Belgrade he had a 10-minute playing-time restriction). However, Leandro Bolmaro had to be stopped at the end and due. Josh Nebo is the other player surely out. Consequently, it will be necessary to manage men and rotations while a very important game against Maccabi is looming on the horizon. “In Cremona, as always, in order to win you have to play aggressive and careful on defense for 40 minutes, even after the very demanding week we are coming off,” Fioretti said.
Tip-off time is 20.00 on Monday.
CREMONA OUTLOOK – Vanoli made a very significant addition by signing Payton Willis, a guard who was in Pistoia last year, and made his debut by scoring six three-pointers in the game lost at home against Brescia. Now, however, Coach Demis Cavina has a pair of talented guards on his hands, Willis and Corey Davis (14.4 points and 5.0 assists on average). Another key man is center Tariq Owens, a veteran of the Italian league (Varese, Napoli), who is producing 8.0 points and 7.3 rebounds on average. 2.9 of these rebounds are offensive. The starting line-up is generally completed by Trevor Lacey (8.3 points and 2.9 rebounds), another highly experienced player, and by Paul Eboua, a power forward who is averaging 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, who is registered as an Italian but is a Cameroon international. Swingman Taijon Jones (11.8 points on 51.7 percent three-point shooting so far) did not play in the last game but could play against Olimpia as well as guard Phil Booth (7.0 points per game). In addition to Eboua, Cremona’s Italian contingent includes the power forward of Serbian origins, Stefan Nikolic (8.3 points and 3.7 rebounds on average), the guard Federico Zampini (5.3 points per game), the wing Federico Poser and the swingman, formerly in Trento, Luca Conti.
