The Turkish Airlines Euroleague returns on Wednesday with the start of the Top 16 with Unics playing host to Fenerbahce Ulker.
After impressive regular seasons for both teams, Unics and Fenerbahce Ulker start the Top 16 on even ground and the first game could potentially be one of the most important played.
Unics lost their first two home games, but won their next three by an average margin of victory of 22.7 points.
FB Ulker won three on the road, including its last two to secure first place in regular season Group A.
A home win for Unics will start the Top 16 newcomers on the right foot. A road win could prove the difference for Fener after the six-game phase.
Unics head coach Evgeny Pashutin has a full squad available to face Fenerbahce Ulker. For the visitors, Roko Ukic, who was second on the team in scoring and assists in the regular season, is out with a broken finger, however the competition’s career rebounding leader, Mirsad Turkcan, returned to action in the Turkish League and is available for head coach Neven Spahija.
Both teams are coming in to form after finishing the regular season strong and are welcoming back injured players. Fener is not yet at full strength, but Curtis Jerrells has been very effective at point guard in Ukic’s absence.
Unics will need Petr Samoylenko and Lynn Greer to be at their best to disrupt the Fener guard’s plans. Unics, which now has power forward Vladimir Veremeenko and center Nathan Jawai fit –they had not both played at least 10 minutes in a game since Week 3 – has the depth to match up with the visitors’ long and deep frontcourt.
With rebounding king Turkcan available to make his season debut, Fener has valuable experience to lean on too. Two match-ups that it will be important for Kazan to control are on the wings, where leading scorer Henry Domercant will be looked on to produce, and at small forward, where wily veteran Kelly McCarty will try to stop FB Ulker’s constant mismatch, point forward Emir Preldzic.
The battle to control the pace could be the difference maker. Unics has proven itself to be comfortable in low-scoring affairs, while Fener will look to unleash its scorers and push the ball.
If Fener is forced to generate most of its offence in half-court situations, the hosts will have a big advantage.
