They will go to battle this Tuesday night
Gran Canaria is Ulm's last stop of memorable road trip
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3 Mins read
Two teams that belong to BKT EuroCup royalty historically-speaking go up against each other when Dreamland Gran Canaria hosts ratiopharm Ulm in Round 5 on Tuesday night (21:00 CEST).
Indeed, Ulm and Gran Canaria have been in the competition for a long time. Ulm in its 12th EuroCup season and has played in every EuroCup campaign over the last 10 years. Gran Canaria is in its 17th EuroCup season and won the competition in 2023, the same year Ulm lifted the German League title.
Gran Canaria leads the all-time standings in points scored (20,414), rebounds (8,817), assists (4,338) and games played (231). Ulm ranks eighth in games played (171) and is set to climb two spots in the standings this season, going past ALBA Berlin (174) and Rytas Vilnius (179).
It will most certainly be a very special game for Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic. After a legendary playing career that saw him win the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague title with FC Barcelona in 2010, Lakovic coached Ulm for three seasons – from 2019 to 2022 – before joining Gran Canaria.
Both teams have very different approaches when it comes to constructing their rosters, too. This past summer, for example, Gran Canaria looked for ready-made players while Ulm found some of the biggest young talents in European basketball, in addition to investing in players with no previous EuroCup experience.
Gran Canaria still has five players that helped the team win the EuroCup title in 2023: Andrew Albicy, Jovan Kljajic, John Shurna, Nico Brussino and Miquel Salvo. Albicy is arguably the most experienced EuroCup player in the competition this season, ranking second all-time in assists (620) and steals (178), as well as 10th in games played (124).
Shurna is another with plenty of experience, having taken part in 129 showdowns, ninth overall, ranking eighth in rebounds (474) and eighth in three-point shots made (182).
Gran Canaria also made sure that most of its newcomers knew what the competition was about, particularly its big guys. Mike Tobey won the EuroCup with Valencia Basket in 2019; center George Conditt and scoring ace Joe Thomasson were teammates at Promitheas Patras in the 2022-23 EuroCup season; and Caleb Homesley has also appeared in the competition with Veolia Hamburg Towers. Only playmaker Carlos Alocen is a EuroCup newcomer after four years with EuroLeague perennial contender Real Madrid.
Ulm is in the middle of a six-game road trip that has seen the team rack up plenty of air miles, with stops in Istanbul, Portland and now Gran Canaria. Only Tommy Klepeisz and Nicolas Bretzel have 50 or more games of EuroCup experience, but Ulm does boast two of the best young players on the planet – and they are leading the team at present.
Ben Saraf is surprising everybody in his first EuroCup season. At age 18, Saraf has started every one of Ulm’s EuroCup games, averaging 14.5 points, 6.0 assists, 4.8 fouls drawn and a PIR of 14.8. What’s more, he has posted double digits in scoring and PIR in all four of those contests. Saraf has joined forces with another prospect who is making plenty of headlines.
Noa Essengue turns 18 on December 10 but is playing like a veteran, coming off the bench to average 12.2 points on solid shooting (66.7% 2FG, 40.0% 3FG), 5.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 6.2 fouls drawn and a PIR of 17.5 in over 26 minutes on the court. Essengue and Saraf rank first and second on the team in PIR, with three-point threat Justinian Jessup (14.5 PIR) right behind.
Fatigue may be an issue for Ulm in its current tour de force around the Northern Hemisphere. Its last win came against Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius on October 8, 76-94. That game was the first of a road trip that concludes in Gran Canaria this Tuesday night, with Ulm having lost four consecutive games: two in the German League, one in the EuroCup (107-74 against Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul) and another one in its exhibition game against the Trail Blazers.
Both teams started the EuroCup season with three consecutive victories and want to bounce back from their first losses of the season. Tune in for a highly entertaining game at Gran Canaria on Tuesday night.