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EuroCup Retrospective: Alen Omic, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana

EuroCup Retrospective: Alen Omic, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana

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9 November 20229 Mins read

EuroCup Retrospective: Alen Omic, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana

Last week Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana center Alen Omic became the 7DAYS EuroCup's all-time rebounding leader. And that's just the latest achievement in his storied 118-game EuroCup career. Omic takes a walk down memory lane, reliving some of his greatest moments and highlights from his nine seasons in the competition with seven different teams, in this EuroCup Retrospective.

October 16, 2013: Omic makes his 7DAYS EuroCup debut with Union Olimpija Ljubljana, getting 6 points and 6 rebounds in a 67-59 victory over Cimberio Varese.

"This was my second year in Olimpija. When I started to play basketball, I always dreamed about playing for two teams: Olimpija Ljubljana and Olimpia Milan. When I watched games on TV, Milan was the best team and a great city. And I managed to play for both teams. It was special to play against Varese, one of Milan's rivals, in my first EuroCup game. I am so happy those dreams came true, you know?"

November 6, 2013: He records his first double-double, getting 18 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-80 road loss against ratiopharm Ulm. His PIR of 32 will be a season-high.

"Trust me, my dream is to destroy all EuroCup records. This is what I want: as many records as possible in the EuroCup."

October 29, 2014: Omic grabs his 100th rebound in the competition in his 19th game in the competition. Olimpija beats Szolnoki Olaj 80-86 at Foenix Arena.

"The truth is, I became a better rebounder when I played for Aito Garcia Reneses in Gran Canaria. When I played there, he taught how to take rebounds, that there is a certain percentage of times where the ball goes when somebody shoots the ball and misses. We worked all season: where the ball goes when someone shoots a 45-degree shot, if he shoots from the corner... Of course, when a coach like Aito pushes you every day, you learn something and after playing for him, my career went up."

February 11, 2015: He sets a new career-high with 25 points in a 73-76 home loss against JDA Dijon. He added 9 rebounds for a PIR of 36.

"I finished that EuroCup season strong and the next season, I went to Gran Canaria. I also went to play for the national team and Aito saw me play, I was 23 years old at the time. We went to play in Spain and that's when Aito saw me, playing with the national team. He saw me, remembered me and immediately after these national team games, he signed me."

February 10, 2016: Gran Canaria beats Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 108-61 at home. Omic has 18 points and 17 rebounds for a career-high PIR of 37 - in just 26 minutes!

"I always try to fight for offensive rebounds because it is an extra chance to score. You can get the rebound and score or give an assist to someone. I am big and have great confidence and I fight every time I am close to the basket to get that rebound. I love rebounding: this is my routine and my mentality, to fight. Nowadays, it is tough to find point guards who will get 20 points and 10 assists. It is not easy to score points, defenses are aggressive and everybody is athletic. But rebounding, it is something that you have in your head, a mentality. If you have energy and you push yourself to get the rebounds, you will probably get it."

April 6, 2016: Omic has 16 points and 7 rebounds in the second leg of the EuroCup Semifinals against Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul. Galatasaray, however, wins the series on an aggregate score of 170-169.

"That was a very tough loss, probably my hardest loss in the EuroCup. Losing that game was really hard, trust me. We played unbelievable that season and were a very good team, but they scored last and Micov had that block in the end. I remember saying after the game that I would come back to the final and take this trophy. For me, it was like losing a final because that series against Galatasaray was like a final. If we would have won, we would have played against Strasbourg in the finals and I am 100% certain we would beat that team."

April 14, 2016: The 2015-16 All-EuroCup teams are announced. Omic makes it to the 2015-16 All-EuroCup First Team. He averaged 14.0 ppg. and 7.6 rpg. for Gran Canaria.

"Again, credit to Aito, he is something different. He is the number one coach in Spain, for sure. I have respect for everybody, but Aito is something special: the way he fights for young guys and helps them get better every day, it is something unbelievable. I also learned a lot from Taph Savane, who is now president of Gran Canaria. I always say that Aito and Taph helped me a lot in my basketball life. When I learned I was in the All-EuroCup First Team, after a good season, it was very special."

April 5, 2017: Omic helps Unicaja Malaga win the 2016-17 EuroCup! Unicaja rallies past Valencia Basket in do-or-die Game 3, 58-63, to win the series at La Fonteta. Omic was ejected for leaving the bench to break up a fight.

"I left Gran Canaria to play for Anadolu Efes Istanbul and played there for two months. My minutes went down and I had the chance to join Unicaja. When I arrived in Malaga, Coach Plaza told me immediately that I wasn't in shape and that I needed one month. 'I trust you, I know who you are', he said. After one month I started to play very well."

"When the fight happened in Game 3, I was sitting on the bench with 15 minutes left and then Martinez went after 'Nedo' [Nemanja Nedovic]. I stood up and caught him and I was like 'you will not touch my brother'. 'Nedo' is my brother, forever, and I love him so when I see someone wanted to fight him, I went immediately to the court. I didn't care and was out of the game. I remember we had a timeout and I said 'guys, this is going to help us'. I went to the locker room, but I stayed close to watch the game. They played unbelievable, fought and won. Lifting the trophy was unbelievable, it was crazy. It was a dream come true, I am so happy about it."

October 23, 2019: Omic gets a PIR of 35 playing for Joventut Badalona against UNICS Kazan. He had 20 points, 13 rebounds and 4 steals.

"We had a very tough team in Badalona and they changed a lot of players when I got there. Nikos Zisis was our boss, but all of us were 25-26 years old and, of course, we have some young players because this is how Joventut works, and I respect that a lot. This is normal. I can only say very good and positive things about Joveneut and I enjoyed playing there. We went to the playoffs, to the EuroCup Top 16... we had a good year and Coach Carles Duran gave me minutes. Again, nothing but respect for Joventut."

December 8, 2021: In his 99th EuroCup game, Omic hits his first three-pointer. He had 18 points but his team, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, registered a 101-104 loss against Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

"You know, when I see somebody not respecting me and he's like five meters away from me, I don't care, I will shoot. There were 5-6 seconds on the shot clock and my coach had said that if I was open like that and there were 5 seconds left, I can take the shot. It went in and when you finally make a three-pointer like this, you have to be a bit cocky! :) I made 2 in the EuroCup last year and already hit one in the Adriatic League this season."

November 2, 2022: Omic becomes the EuroCup's rebounding king, getting a career-best 21 boards in Cedevita’s 76-68 loss at Umana Reyer Venice to reach 776. He leads the competition in two-point shots made (487), too.

"Trust me, my dream is to destroy all EuroCup records. This is what I want: as many records as possible in the EuroCup. I want to be number one, stay in the EuroCup, play for good teams and try to get all the records. I want to win all records in the EuroCup. I want to be number one.

"I will give my best to stay in the Eurocup, to stay with good teams and try to win all the records. I am 30 years old, and I know it is better to stay in a very good EuroCup team like Olimpija, or some others who played the competition before like Valencia, Virtus. What I want to play is 25 minutes, enjoying, winning, taking some trophies and fighting. I am a positive guy and always want to play, to stay on the court. If I play 5 minutes, I am not happy. I am always thinking 'why did I play 5 minutes?'

"I really enjoy playing in the EuroCup, I enjoy the competition, I love to play in Ljubljana, this is my city, and my coach trusts me. I played for Efes, back-to-back EuroLeague champions now and everything, but it was best for me to play for Gran Canaria and Unicaja in the EuroCup, two places where I enjoyed playing basketball. Playing for Milan was a dream come true, and I enjoyed playing for Crvena Zvezda. But yes, I don't like to stay on the bench, it is not easy for me! And being the EuroCup's leading rebounder is huge. I love it!"