Virtus Bologna to smash Darussafaka
Two teams that are in good shape met in Round 2 of Eurocup’s Top 16 in Italy, where Virtus Bologna receives the visit of Darussafaka in a match that will count very much for Virtus, especially after that huge loss suffered against Partizan in the last round. Let’s see what they’ve done this weekend.
After that loss in Serbia, Virtus came back to Italy and visited Virtus Roma. The match was without any history because Bologna made a huge game offensively scoring 63% of their field-goal attempts. They made many turnovers in the game but were able to take advantage of many of their opportunities and they had 21 more rebounds than their opponents. Ten players had more than 13 minutes on the floor in this game, which let their star players play fewer minutes and be more rested before this game. The main contributors were: Kyle Weems (14 points and 4 rebounds), Filippo Baldi Rossi (12 points and 5 rebounds) and Giampaolo Ricci (12 points and 6 rebounds).
Darussafaka won their last 3 games, including a big win against Trento in the first round of Eurocup. They had another game at home in the Turkish league where they simply smashed Buyukcekmece 105-56. Like their opponents, Darussafaka had a monstrous game offensively sinking 23 shots from distance out of 36 attempts. All 12 players played in the game at least 11 minutes and everybody contributes for the win. The main scorers were: Kartal Ozmizrak (19 points and 6 assists), Bonzie Colson-Jr (17 points and 3 rebounds) and Doron Lamb (17 points in 16 minutes). They need the same focus offensively if they hope to a good result against Virtus, but to not forget: Virtus is from another planet than poor Buyukcekmece.
Virtus desperately need a win here because they can’t afford to lose another game in the group, especially home games. They need to build a fortress at home, as they do in the Italian League. Darussafaka has their chances but they are too small to hope for a surprise here. I expect a huge game from Milos Teodosic who will be the main reason for Virtus’ win.
Photo: Eurocup
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
