For the first time since 2019, Olimpia and Virtus Bologna face each other in the Italian Cup. Over the last five seasons it has never happened despite the fact that between Super Cup, EuroLeague and Italian league they have met 40 times (record tied: 20-20), including the last four championship series. The clash will take place in the first round: the winner will face the winner of the Brescia-Tortona match-up in the semi-final game scheduled to be played on Saturday. Olimpia is coming off a positive week in which it won two road games, in Kaunas and Sassari; Bologna had lost the two home EuroLeague games but then made up for it by winning on the road against Tortona. In the Italian league standings they are separated by one win, which is the result of Virtus winning in Milan. However, Olimpia has won eight of the last nine Serie A games, the only defeat being in Venice. Both are dealing with absences: Olimpia will not have Josh Nebo and Fabien Causeur; Ousmane Diop has just returned; Nikola Mirotic will be game-time decision but he’s been out for a while. Virtus doesn’t have Will Clyburn and Ante Zizic due to injuries. However, it has just added Justin Holiday to its roster, a highly experienced player with 680 appearances in the NBA under his belt. The two teams are the best-shooting teams in the league, Olimpia is first in three-point shooting and free throws shooting; Virtus is the best team in the league in two-point shooting, again right ahead of second-place Olimpia. Virtus is also the team that allows the fewest offensive rebounds to the opponents while Milan is the one that allows the fewest rebounds in general. There have been three games between the two teams this season, with Olimpia up 2-1 but many things have changed since the first and even the last one. Curiously, the two teams will face each other again when the Italian league resumes in March, this time in Bologna. Tip off time on Wednesday in Turin is 20:45.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “All the single elimination games are unpredictable, and the Italian Cup is no exception. Normally, the team capable of getting as close as possible to express the best of its potential will have more chances to prevail. However, rebounds and defense will be decisive to overcome potentially bad shooting nights.”
BOLOGNA OUTLOOK – With no Will Clyburn, obviously, Virtus’ main player is Tornike Shengelia, a Georgian power forward with enormous experience who is averaging 13.8 points per game in the Italian league but over just 24.3 minutes of playing time. he also grabs 5.8 rebounds per game and is shooting 64.0 percent from two if over six attempts on average. In the league he is shooting only 15.4 percent from three-point distance, but this is a false stat because in the EuroLeague this season he is converting 39.0 percent of his attempts, so his original flaw is no longer such. The other player who averages in double figures in the league is Marco Belinelli, 39 years old, 12.3 points per game on 64.4 percent shooting on twos and 42.6 percent on threes in 20.4 minutes on the court, often coming off the bench. After Shengelia, the most used player in the Italian league is Isaia Cordinier, a silver medalist at the 2024 Olympics with France: he averages 9.3 points, 3.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game, shooting 60.8 percent from two. Virtus is obviously a deep team, with many solutions on the perimeter: Matt Morgan (9.2 points per game with 40.9 percent from three) is a quick point guard and a shooter; Alessandro Pajola is one of the most highly rated defenders in Europe and he shoots 64.7 percent from two and adds to his 6.0 points per game average, 5.6 assists per game in 21.1 minutes on the court; veteran Daniel Hackett (5.1 points and 2.1 assists per game) guarantees presence and physicality as a point man; Rayjon Tucker, last year in Venice, is a perimeter player with great athleticism and power (5.9 points per game) and finally there is Justin Holiday, a great shooter from the outside. Shengelia is used both as a power forward and as a center. In the latter case, he can be joined by both Achille Polonara (6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds on average, 46.2 percent from three) and Andrej Grazulis (6.1 points, 41.7 percent from three). When Shengelia takes the power forward spot, the center is Momo Diouf (6.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game with 65.3% from two). The roster is completed by Riccardo Visconti and among the big men by Nicola Akele, who can play both forward positions.
THE SUPER CUP GAME – Olimpia beat Virtus 98-96 in the Super Cup championship game held in Bologna after a battle in which the home team led by as many as 14 points before the red and white team cameback and took the win on overtime. Neno Dimitrijevic (16 points and six assists), Leandro Bolmaro (18 points including a crucial three from the corner) and Nikola Mirotic (18 points, 7-for-7 from the foul line) were decisive. Olimpia also had 11 points from Zach LeDay and an exceptional performance from Josh Nebo (20 points, nine rebounds including five on offense, 10-for-15 from the field). In Virtus there were 18 points from Achille Polonara and 17 with eight rebounds from Tornike Shengelia.
THE EUROLEAGUE GAME – Olimpia won 99-90 in Milan in the EuroLeague in a game that was led with a 17-point margin in the first half before suffering a comeback that allowed Virtus to go up by six in the heart of the third quarter. Olimpia, however, exploded again in the fourth quarter, scoring 33 points and turning the game around. Protagonists of the game were Zach LeDay (19 points, 6-for-9 from the field), Fabien Causeur (18 points with three threes), Stefano Tonut (14 points) and above all Nikola Mirotic, 21 points and 13 rebounds of which six were offensive rebounds in 25 minutes. For Virtus there were 15 points scored by Tornike Shengelia, 21 by Marco Belinelli and 11 came from Matt Morgan who also had 10 assists.
THE ITALIAN LEAGUE GAME – Virtus won Milan in the Italian league 82-73, in a game they took control of in the second quarter with 29 points scored and a nine-point lead mantained in the second half. The decisive player was Tornike Shengelia with 19 points and eight rebounds. For Olimpia there were 21 points scored by Nikola Mirotic but the team didn’t have enough from the rest of the group.
THE BOLOGNA CONNECTION – Giampaolo Ricci played for Virtus Bologna for two seasons, winning the 2021 Italian championship as Captain. Nico Mannion played for Virtus for two seasons from 2021 to 2023 with 71 league appearances and 475 points scored. Daniel Hackett played in Milan for two years, winning the 2014 championship. Ettore Messina has coached in the Virtus youth team since the 1983/84 season when he was also Alberto Bucci’s assistant. He became head coach in the 1989/90 season and remained there up to and including the 1992/93 season, only to return in 1997 and remain there until 2002. In these two periods he won the Euroleague twice (1998 and 2001), the Cup Winners’ Cup once (1990), the Italian league three times (1993, 1998 and 2001), and three times the Italian Cup.
