Royal Liège Basket are eyeing their first European trophy after winning the Belgium Cup (2004) and two Belgium Supercups (2004, 2009).
Alex Zampier and his men are well positioned to finish on the podium.
They finished fourth in the Group B with a 4-3 record and then...
The Black, White and Reds moved on to upset a first seeded Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena.
Liège Basket won the quarterfinal series 182-180 after a 95-84 win at home and a 87-96 “happy loss” on the road.
Team statistics
They are the second highest scoring team among the Final Four participants with 89.6 points per game.
Two Lithuanian teams were leading the scoring table and the standings as well.
Šiauliai averaged 92.4 points, while Utena was second with 91.1 points.
Two Polish teams – Zastal Zielona Gora and Start Lublin – followed with 90.3 and 89.9 points respectively.
All those teams, except Šiauliai, are out of the competition.
Liège Basket have many other qualities outside scoring.
They share the ball well and are second in assists among Final Four participants with 21.4 dimes per game, trailing only to Bakken Bears Aarhus.
Liège Basket are first in rebounds with 39.3 boards per game.
They also have the most rebounds on offense – if not counting the Newcastle Eagles – with 12.8 opportunities to score second chance points.
Their aggressiveness in the paint is second to none as they make 18.6 free throws per game.
Strong front court, good ball sharing and team cohesiveness make Liège Basket a serious force.
Player statistics
Three players – Bram Bogaerts, Kevin Tumba and Moussa Noterman – have played in all ENBL games.
Four players have averaged at least 11.7 points while playing six games or more.
EJ Anosike has 17.8 points, followed by Olivier Troisfontaines, Jamelle Hagins (14.9 points for both) and Angel Rodriguez with 11.7 points.
Rodriguez is the best passer with 7.2 dimes per game.
Kevin Tumba is the best rebounder with 9.0 boards.
He averages 1.6 blocks per game and scores 7.6 points too.
Olivier Troisfontaines is a scoring ace as he shoots 42.6% from the three point line (20/47).
Injury report
Liège Basket received a painful blow recently.
Captain Brieuc Lemaire suffered a season ending injury on March 26.
He was second in assists with 5.1 dimes per game.
We wish a good health and speedy recovery for Brieuc.
History
There is a good example to follow.
Standard Liège – a predecessor of Liège Basket – reached the semifinals of the FIBA
European Champions Cup in 1969.
The club, founded in 1959 and dissolved in 1985, won three Belgium championships in 1968, 1970 and 1977.
The current Liège club was founded in Fléron as the Fléron Basket Club in 1967.
In 2000, the club decided to merge with BC Hannut and Essor Hannut, relocating to the city of Liège.
The Black, White and Reds play in the first division since 2001.
Alex Zampier is the new head coach of Liège Basket.
A former Yale University guard served as the Bulldogs captain in 2009-2010.
Zampier finished third in the Ivy League in scoring and received the Dutch Arnold award as the team`s most valuable player.
Young coach has worked for the Utah Jazz, the Phoenix Suns and the Detroit Pistons.
His predecessor Brad Greenberg won the 2021 FIBA Europe Cup with Ironi Ness Ziona.
Final Four 2024
Tuesday, April 9
16:00 Liège Basket – CSO Voluntari
19:00 Šiauliai – Bakken Bears
Wednesday, April 10
16:00 Bronze medal game
19:00 Final
21:00 Award ceremony