Our team, which will play its 924th game on the European stage, has recorded 510 wins and 413 losses in the 923 games it has played in European competitions to date.
Anadolu Efes, which will play its 676th game in the EuroLeague, in which it has competed since the 2001-02 season, has recorded 353 wins and 322 losses in the 675 games it has played in this competition to date.
Anadolu Efes and Virtus Bologna have met 16 times in European competitions, with our team recording nine wins and seven losses. In the six games played between the two teams in FIBA competitions, our team recorded four wins and two losses, while in the 10 EuroLeague games between the two teams, our team recorded five wins and five losses.
In Round 10 of the EuroLeague, our team fell 90-95 to France’s Paris Basketball at the Turkcell Basketball Development Center, while Virtus Bologna lost 75-93 to Dubai Basketball at home. After Round 10, Anadolu Efes sits 13th with a 4-6 record, and Virtus Bologna sits 15th with the same 4-6 record.
Our Head Coach Pablo Laso’s thoughts on the match:
Virtus Bologna probably surprised everyone at the beginning of the year. They are a very athletic team that plays a lot of up-and-down situations and runs an early offense.
Our experiences against Paris Basketball and Tofaş were very clear. We have to match their aggressiveness to the basket. They play very open and attack the rim, so we have to impose our defense that way. Only then will we be able to impose our offense and our tempo. If we simply try to play like them, it will be difficult, because they will control the emotions and the flow of the game.
That is something we have to regain in order to play a good game and try to get a win at home. I think that is very important for us.
Our player Georgios Papagiannis's thoughts on the match are as follows:
We are coming off a tough week. We have to protect our home court against a very good team that plays an intense 40 minutes.
On our side, we have to do the basics very well, such as guarding the ball, and that will be crucial in this game.
On offense, we have to get to our favorite spots to create easy basket opportunities for ourselves.
