Friday, January 26, comes with exciting match-up in eastern Lithuania, as Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena will host the Bakken Bears Aarhus.
Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena vs Bakken Bears Aarhus
Series history: Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena and Bakken Bears Aarhus will face each other for the first time.
Juventus will secure the first place in the Group A with a win, while the Bakken Bears need to win two games to take the top spot.
Key matchup: Šarūnas Beniušis averages 11.2 points and 4.2 rebounds for the Uniclub Casino Juventus.
Dayshon “Scoochie” Smith (Dayton) has 7.7 points and 5.7 assists.
Bakken Bears big man DeAndre Pinckney leads the ENBL in efficiency with 27,4 rating.
Southern Mississippi star averages 22.2 points and 9.0 rebounds.
Noah Sorensen has 12.0 points and 4.8 assists.
National championships: Uniclub Casino Juventus Utena are 12-5 at the Betsafe LKL.
Utena occupies the third place in the standings, thanks to a 1-1 and +22 record against the Vilnius Wolves.
The Wolves recently parted ways with a 2023 ENBL finalist Kestutis Kemzūra.
Not Juventus, not Wolves qualified for the King Mindaugas Cup Final 4.
Šiauliai did it along with Žalgiris Kaunas, Rytas Vilnius and Lietkabelis Panevežys.
Uniclub Casino Juventus are 3-0 in the ENBL home games.
Bakken Bears are 15-1 in the Basketligaen.
The Bears are 3-0 in the ENBL road games.
Know your referees
Crew chief: Juozas Barkauskas (Lithuania) – LKL referee from 2014, FIBA referee from 2017, Basketball Champions league referee from 2019.
Umpire 1: Christian Hansen (Denmark) – FIBA referee from 2021, Denmark Basketball highest leagues from 2015.
Umpire 2: Andzej Urbanovic (Lithuania) – a Top 10 referee from Lithuania, LKL referee from 2014 and a FIBA referee from 2019.
Observer: Oskars Lucis (Latvia).
ENBL access: follow the game on YouTube live stream