The first Olimpia game of 2020 is at the Mediolanum Forum and closes the first half of the EuroLeague season. Olimpia is facing Zenit Saint Petersburg with a 8-8 record, in line with those of Khimki and Asvel Villeurbanne. Panathinaikos – Olimpia’s next opponent – is one step ahead, Valencia and Red Star are one step behind. With Nemanja Nedovic still out (he’s had nine appearances so far and was shooting 39.6% from three), Keifer Sykes is available. The Chicago native has a personal best of 43 points in a single BCL game with Avellino’s team last season, but is making his EuroLeague debut. “I want to represent the club well, I want to represent myself well, bring energy, toughness, leadership … I consider myself a student of the game, I have enough confidence to be able to take advantage of my skills, but I still want to use these six months to pick Sergio Rodriguez brain as much as I can,” he said.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “The players’ quality and the organization are not consistent with the current position of Zenit in the standing. They are much better than that. It’s obviously a very important game for us, one to be approached with grit and determination. Against the aggressive defense typical of any team coached by Joan Plaza, we’ll have to be very accurate ed efficient”.
THE OPPONENT – Zenit had a streak of six consecutive defeats, but then beat Asvel Villeurbanne and Fenerbahce in Istanbul with a crucial corner three made by the French point-guard Andrew Albicy. Three of its four wins came on the road, in Kaunas, Athens (Olympiacos) and in Istanbul. The team star is Gustavo Ayon, a Mexican center with NBA experience who comes from Real Madrid. He is averaging 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Polish forwards Mateusz Ponitka is scoring 10.2 points per game and is converting 40.0% of his threes. Alex Renfroe is averaging 4.9 assists per game. The amount of experienced players available to coach Joan Plaza (he coached Real Madrid, Zalgiris and Malaga in the EuroLeague) is remarkable: there are Anton Ponkrashov, Will Thomas and Colton Iverson. Very dangerous is the shooter Austin Hollins, who takes about five shots from three per game and has had 25 and 26-point games.
ZENIT CONNECTION – The Mexican center, Gustavo Ayon, played in Real Madrid for two years with Sergio Rodriguez. Anton Ponkrashov at CSKA Moscow was coached by Ettore Messina and played for one season with Vlado Micov. Nemanja Nedovic and Jeff Brooks played in Malaga for Zenit’s coach Joan Plaza and all the three together won the 2017 Eurocup. Nedovic was a teammate of Will Thomas in Malaga. Finally, Aaron White spent one year in St. Petersburg during the 2016/17 season before moving to Zalgiris Kaunas. He played 16 Eurocup games and 30 VTB League games. It is the first game ever between Olimpia and St. Petersburg.
KALEB BY NUMBERS – Kaleb Tarczewski tied his career high of 10 rebounds in the game against CSKA for the seventh time, the second in a row. He had double double games in both the last two outings. Tarczewski in the last four games is averaging 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds. He is also 28 rebounds shy from 400 in career.
