Olimpia will put the month of March behind after one more road game, this time in the Italian league, in Napoli, with the goal of continuing the comeback that has brought the team, with six wins out of eight in the second half of the season, including the last three, on par with the second-placed teams. In a very “tight” standings, each game is becoming more and more important. For Olimpia, the schedule is treacherous because two road games are coming up next, Napoli and Reggio Emilia. The possibility of climbing further is going through these two games. In Napoli, Olimpia will play still wounded by the last two EuroLeague games. However, the team has previously responded with strong performances to some painful losses. It will take one to win in Napoli against a team on the rise that after much suffering has put four teams behind and “sees” its goal to void relegation closer, after winning five of the last six home games. It is a team coached by an experienced coach like Giorgio Valli (a former Ettore Messina’s assistant in Bologna), with important veterans like Kevin Pangos, Jacob Pullen, Erick Green, Tomislav Zubcic. Olimpia won’t have Josh Nebo, Fabien Causeur, Armoni Brooks (flu-like symptoms) and Neno Dimitrijevic who reported some back spams during the last practice before leaving for Napoli.
Game time on Monday is scheduled for 20:30
NAPOLI OUTLOOK – Napoli has changed a lot compared to the early part of the season, including the coach. Former Olimpia assistant (during the 2010/11 season he served under Piero Bucchi and Dan Peterson) Giorgio Valli took the place of Igor Milicic. There have also been deep changes made to the roster, with the returns of Jacob Pullen and Tomislav Zubcic. The starting point guard is Kevin Pangos (10.2 points and 7.2 assists on average) who has organizational tasks and above all gets the three shooters who flank him into rhythm: Jacob Pullen, Erick Green and power forward Zubcic. Pullen is an offensive player averaging 15.6 points per game with over seven three-pointers attempted per game. Green is a very experienced guard, who played a championship series with Siena against Olimpia in 2014. He averages 14.5 points per game. Zubcic is a 2.08-mt tall who can shoot from way outside as demonstrated by his 41.5 percent shooting from three to which he adds 10.8 points and 4.3 rebounds on average. The bench is sustained by Giovanni De Nicolao (3.0 points and 2.6 assists on average), a player with excellent defensive instincts, Tomas Woldetensae, a small forward who produces 6.0 points per game is supposed to be out with an ankle sprain, and Kaspars Trejer (6.2 points per game). The centers are Leonardo Totè, 13.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, a player with great offensive skills as confirmed by his 69.8 percent from two-point range on 7.5 attempts per game, dangerous as an offensive rebounder, and John Egubnu, a Jamaican who is averaging 6.4 points per game on 80.0 percent two-point shooting.
THE NAPOLI CONNECTION – Kevin Pangos spent a year and a half in Milan playing 23 games in the Italian league between regular season, playoffs and Italina Cup, with 178 points scored and 78 assists dished. Guglielmo Caruso is from Napoli and in the 2017/18 season he played on loan in A2 at Cuore Basket Napoli, of which the current Napoli Basket is the heir. This happened before he moved to the United States to play at Santa Clara University. Napoli Coach Giorgio Valli was in Milan as an assistant to Piero Bucchi and Dan Peterson in the 2010/11 season.
