Bahcesehir: Big names and a noticeable absence

BAXI Manresa will play its third match of the second phase of the Basketball Champions League, and as in the previous ones, it will be played at home. This Wednesday, February 15, from 21:00, the Nou Congost will receive the Turkish Bahcesehir College, in a match of the fourth day that has been advanced due to the changes in schedules caused by the earthquake in Syria and Turkey.

The Istanbul team is at the bottom of Group J with a record of no wins and two losses, as it fell in its visits to the courts of Germany's Telekom Baskets Bonn (74-68) and Lithuania's Rytas Vilnius (95- 88). However, the Turks have a team full of experienced men known to fans of the Endesa League and the Euroleague. One of them is the Slovenian Jaka Blazic, who played in the Endesa League from 2015 to 2019, in the ranks of Baskonia, MoraBanc Andorra and Barça respectively. The second is the American power forward James Gist, a player with a long career in the top European competition (especially in the ranks of Panathinaikos) and who also went through Unicaja in 2012. Also Jamar Smith played for the Malaga team, in his case from 2015 to 2017. Smith, with an average of 14.7 points, is the team's second leading scorer, only behind a Jerry Boutsiele who will not be able to play the game due to injury. Finally, the Turks have recently incorporated Conor Morgan, who played for Joventut from 2018 to 2021 and for Andorra in the 2021-2022 course.

Bahcesehir College will be the ninth Turkish team to visit the Nou Congost. So far, the balance is positive enough for the Bages team, who have won seven (Galatasaray, Tofas Bursa twice, Fenerbahce, Turk Telekom, Pinar Karsiyaka and Darussafaka) and conceded only two defeats (Ulker and Efes).