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Head-to-head: Andrew Albicy, Gran Canaria vs. Guillem Vives, Joventut

Head-to-head: Andrew Albicy, Gran Canaria vs. Guillem Vives, Joventut

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26 April 20233 Mins read

Head-to-head: Andrew Albicy, Gran Canaria vs. Guillem Vives, Joventut

Two veteran point guards, Andrew Albicy and Guillem Vives, will have a chance to do something they have never done in the 7DAYS EuroCup before – face one another – when Gran Canaria and Joventut Badalona go to battle in Wednesday's semifinal tie between the two sides.

The two players have combined for nearly 200 appearances in the competition over more than a decade, but this will be the first time that they will be on opposite sides of the floor. Curiously, this is also the first-ever EuroCup meeting between Spanish League rivals Gran Canaria and Joventut – and what a time for it to occur, with a spot in the 2023 EuroCup Finals on the line.

For Albicy, this semifinal will be his 100th appearance in the EuroCup. He has 79 starts so far and boasts career averages of 8.2 points and 5.2 assists. Albicy is the only player in EuroCup history that has averaged at least 5.0 assists and played in at least 70 games.

Albicy made his debut in the 2011-12 season and is currently in his seventh EuroCup campaign with a fourth different club. He helped MoraBanc Andorra reach the EuroCup Semifinals in 2018, and he helped Gran Canaria do the same in 2021. His career average PIR of 12.0 is the third highest for players with more than 95 appearances.

Vives, on the other hand, was a EuroCup champion with Valencia Basket in 2019. He has 97 appearances across six EuroCup seasons, but with lesser averages of 5.0 points, 3.2 assists and 1.7 rebounds.

In more than half of those 97 games, Vives has come off the bench – and he has done the same in 11 of the 19 fixtures he has disputed this season, averaging 5.3 points on 40.0% three-point shooting, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds.

His role – and importance – has grown due to the injury of veteran point guard Pau Ribas. Vives scored 11 points on 3-for-5 three-point shooting, in addition to grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing 3 assists, in Joventut's eighthfinals win over the London Lions. He then played 26 minutes, the fourth most this season, in the team's dramatic quarterfinal triumph against Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv. That night, Vives finished with 5 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal.

Albicy has had slightly better averages this season, including ranking just outside top 10 in assists (4.8 apg.) and steals (1.4 spg.). He had 5 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in the eighthfinals against Frutti Extra Bursaspor, before recording 7 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 20 minutes during Gran Canaria's comfortable quarterfinal win over Paris Basketball.

On Wednesday night, in his third appearance in the EuroCup Semifinals, the 33-year-old Albicy will try to reach the EuroCup Finals for the first time. Vives, meanwhile, is trying to return there again, four years after lifting the title.