BAXI Manresa hosts Hapoel, one of the competition's favorites.
This Wednesday's game at Nou Congost (8:45 p.m.), which will be behind closed doors, is a great competitive challenge for BAXI Manresa, which has a great squad ahead of it. Knudsen, even with discomfort, will continue to be discarded.
BAXI Manresa is looking to turn its Eurocup win-loss record in its favor after winning its first match last week against Polish side Slask Wroclaw. Diego Ocampo's team will be without the support of the fans but have a full squad, except for Gustav Knudsen, who is training on the sidelines.
This is a significant challenge for BAXI Manresa, who head into the third round of the Eurocup eager to face one of the competition's biggest rivals: Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, a team with great potential. The Manresa side, playing their third of four matches at Bages in these two weeks, are looking to have more wins than losses and break the tie.
The Israelis arrive at Nuevo Congost after stumbling against Cedevita but having won away to Veolia Towers Hamburg. Statistically, in the first three European matches, Anthony Lamb, Jared Harper, and Justin Smith have been the standouts. A team with a wealth of individual talent and a high level of physicality that will demand a lot.
Nacho Juan, BAXI Manresa's assistant coach, noted in the preview that «In Hapoel, we find a lot of individual talent and a high level of physicality, like many Eurocup teams. It will be very important for us to be able to control their playmakers, maintain a high level of physicality to control the rebound, and have a high level of individual responsibility. They are teams capable of going off-script with this individual ability.»