The game at the Unipol Forum on Sunday afternoon will be a game between two hurry teams. Olimpia lost their third EuroLeague game by a single possession, similar to their previous loss to Partizan in Belgrade, and at home to Monaco, despite scoring 100 points. Venice suffered a similar fate in the Eurocup, in Cluj, conceding two free throws near the end that determined the final score. This is therefore a game between teams seeking an emotional response to their midweek misfortunes. Both teams have also suffered additional physical issues: Olimpia with Ousmane Diop, who pulled out during the warmup, and Reyer with Ky Bowman, who suffered an ankle injury. Olimpia, still without Lorenzo Brown, Zach LeDay, and Josh Nebo, will be able to count on Leonardo Totè and former Reyer player Stefano Tonut, but will still have to rotate the roster with one eye on another EuroLeague double-round next week (Olimpia leaves for Barcelona on Monday, then plays at the Unipol Forum against Paris Basketball on Thursday). Also available is Nate Sestina, who made his debut against Valencia.
Tip off time on Sunday, October 26th, will be at 16:00.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “Our goal against Reyer is play with the aggressiveness and qualità that in the last few games we shower only when the situation became hard. Moments of struggle should be overcome with 40 minutes of defensive cohesion against a team with such scoring potential.”
UMANA REYER VENEZIA OUTLOOK – The former Connecticut point guard RJ Cole, who was playing in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the last couple of seasons, is averaging 18.7 points and 4.0 assists per game. Coach Neven Spahija, in his third season in Venice and his second from the beginnings, pairs him with another ball handler, usually Ky Bowman, who previously played in Italy in Brindisi and Treviso (he’s averaging 15.0 points and 3.7 assists per game). Cole is also shooting 40.0 percent from three. The guard’s department is strengthened by Giovanni De Nicolao, Leo Candi (5.3 points and 40.0 percent three-point shooting and 2.3 assists per game), and especially Denzel Valentine, who can be used in three different positions. After a season in Trieste, Valentine is averaging 7.0 points and 4.7 assists per game in Venice. Also playing at small forward are Jordan Parks, another veteran of the Italian league and of Reyer, averaging 11.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, shooting 37.5 percent on three-pointers, and British international Carl Wheatle (averaging 2.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game), an athletic player and solid defender. The power forward is Canadian Kyle Wiltjer, a player who gained EuroLeague experience at Olympiacos, gifted with a great outside shot (4.7 three-point attempts per game) and currently averaging 8.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. The center is Chris Horton, in his second season in Italy after a standout year in Trapani. He’s currently averaging 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. But Venice also counts on Alessandro Lever, a potentially dangerous shooter, and Amedeo Tessitori, a low-post scorer who has had a great start to the season, averaging 11.0 points per game and shooting 75.0 percent on twos. Tessitori is a fearsome offensive rebounder, averaging 1.7 rebounds in under 16 minutes on the court. Stefan Nikolic, who played for Cremona last year, is also playing well, averaging 9.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a forward.
THE REYER CONNECTION –Stefano Tonut spent seven years with Reyer. With Venezia, he won the Italian league twice and the Italian Cup once, as well as a FIBA Europe Cup. Tonut is in his third season with Olimpia. Denzel Valentine, who made a brief appearance in Milan in the 2023/24 season but was nonetheless part of the team that won the Italian championship, is now part of Venice team.
