Umana Reyer Venice announced on Wednesday that it appointed former 7DAYS EuroCup champion Neven Spahija to be its new head coach. He replaces Walter De Raffaele, who was relieved of his duties earlier in the week after spending 13 years at the club. Gianluca Tucci will serve as Reyer's head coach for Wednesday's Round 14 game on the road against 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys.

Reyer appoints Neven Spahija as new head coach

Umana Reyer Venice announced on Wednesday that it appointed former 7DAYS EuroCup champion Neven Spahija to be its new head coach. He replaces Walter De Raffaele, who [was relieved of his duties earlier in the week](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/news/reyer-parts-ways-with-head-coach-walter-de-raffaele/) after spending 13 years at the club. Gianluca Tucci will serve as Reyer's head coach for Wednesday's Round 14 game on the road against 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys.

Spahija, 60, returns to the EuroCup for the first time in almost a decade after leading Cibona Zagreb of his native Croatia for the first five games of the 2013-14 season. Spahija previously helped Valencia Basket win the EuroCup in 2010, and he also reached the competition's final with the Slovenian side Krka Novo Mesto in 2003. He has a 35-17 (67.3%) career record in the competition and now takes over Reyer, a team sitting in fifth place in Group A with a 7-6 record.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="it" dir="ltr">✍️🇭🇷 Neven Spahija è il nuovo head coach dell’Umana Reyer maschile 👉 <a href="https://t.co/zLZfL3MObA">https://t.co/zLZfL3MObA</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Reyer150?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Reyer150</a> <a href="https://t.co/VLSIyww6fG">pic.twitter.com/VLSIyww6fG</a></p>&mdash; Reyer Venezia (@REYER1872) <a href="https://twitter.com/REYER1872/status/1623295568603750401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Spahija last coached in the 2021-22 season with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, which he led to a ninth-place finish in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the semifinals in the Spanish League. That was his second stint with the Spanish club, which he also guided to the 2008 EuroLeague Final Four. Spahija has an 89-93 (48.9%) record across 10 EuroLeague seasons during his career, having started with Elemes Sibenik, Zrinjevac Zagreb and Gradine Pula in Croatia. He also coached Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia, Avtodor Saratov of Russia, Euro Roseto of Italy, Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius of Lithuania, Fenerbahce Istanbul of Turkey, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv of Israel and Shanghai Sharks of China, as well as spending time as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks and the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA.

He has won domestic league titles in Spain (Baskonia 2008), Croatia (Cibona 2000, 2001), Slovenia (Krka 2003), Lithuania (Rytas 2006), Israel (Maccabi 2007, 2018) and Turkey (Fenerbahce 2011). Spahija also won Croatian Cups with Cibona in 2000 and 2001, the Turkish Cup with Fenerbahce in 2011 and the Baltic League with Rytas in 2006. He has coached the Croatian national team, too.

London Lions forward Sam Dekker has been one of the 7DAYS EuroCup's most impactful players this season. That said, the 28-year-old has taken his game to another level in recent weeks. 

Who's hot: Sam Dekker, London Lions

London Lions forward [Sam Dekker](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/players/sam-dekker/009672/) has been one of the 7DAYS EuroCup's most impactful players this season. That said, the 28-year-old has taken his game to another level in recent weeks. 

Dekker, who ranks sixth in minutes played (31:31 mpg.), has been competition's best scorer thus far in the second half of the regular season. His overall production since Round 10 has shot London up the EuroCup statistical rankings, all the way to second in average PIR and third in scoring.

Dekker already starred in the first half of the regular season, his second in the EuroCup. He overcame an injury in that season opener that had held him to 5 minutes and just 5 points that night. After returning in Round 4, he went on to score at least 15 points in each of the next six games, including 20 points twice in that span.

Since Round 10, however, Dekker has been positively explosive. No player has scored more points in the four games since Round 10 than Dekker's 97.

Dekker started off this span of strong performances by dropping 29 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds against Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv. He followed that up with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds in a key road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento.

Dekker continued by scoring 18 of team's 57 points in a tight home loss against Group B leader Gran Canaria. And finally, in Round 13, he netted 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds on the road against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.

Over that span, Dekker impressed not only with his 24.3 points per game, improved from 16.6 before Round 10, but also by improving his three-point shooting. He went from making just 6 triples on 24.0% accuracy in his first seven games to averaging 2.3 on respectable 34.6% shooting in the last four.

Dekker also went from pulling down 4.9 rebounds to averaging 7.3 since Round 10, and has blocked 6 shots in the last four games. It all led to him posting an average PIR of 25.8, behind only this season's PIR leader Yogi Ferrell of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, who has averaged 26.5 in the same four-game span.

Dekker will try to keep up his hot streak when his team hosts Veolia Towers Hamburg on Wednesday knowing that a win will book London's place in the playoffs.

London Lions v Veolia Towers Hamburg (2023-02-08T19:30:00.000Z)

Both Paris Basketball (8-5) and Buducnost VOLI Podgorica (8-5) have already secured their place in the 7DAYS EuroCup Playoffs, but during Wednesday night's showdown at Halle Georges Carpinter, these two teams with aspirations of reaching the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague will be able to test themselves against one another.

When Buducnost hosted Paris in Round 5 in their first-ever meeting, it was Paris that came away with the victory, winning 74-77. Coach Will Weaver's team leaned on a 7-point swing in the fourth quarter to improve to 3-2, while Buducnost tactician Vlada Jovanovic saw his team drop to 3-2.

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica - Paris Basketball | Round 5 Highlights | 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup

The two teams had the same record after that Round 5 game, and they come into Wednesday's contest with an identical record, too: 8-5. Kyle Allman was one of Paris's best performers that day, pairing 13 points with 4 rebounds and 5 assists, but he has not played since Round 10 due to injury and will miss his team's game against Buducnost.

Instead, Paris will have to rely on some of its other top performers from its Round 5 matchup, as Aamir Simms, Juhann Begarin, Amar Gegic and Ismael Kamagate all got into double figures for points. Last time out, Paris lost 118-99 on the road at Gran Canaria, with Simms scoring a career-high 22 points, while Tyrone Wallace, who didn’t play against Buducnost, was not far behind with 19. In the absence of Allman, Wallace has also become the team's lead playmaker.

Michael Roll had 17 points against Gran Canaria, but he has now left Paris after only signing a short-term deal. Gegic added 14 points, Gauthier Denis chipped in with 12 and Jeremy Evans had 11, so it will be important that Paris finds scoring options from multiple players at Halle Georges Carpinter.

The best scoring plays of Paris Basketball in the 7DAYS EuroCup in the absence of Kyle Allman, who has been out since Round 11.

Paris's best scoring plays since Round 11

Kamagate, however, is coming off his worst performance of the season, having struggled up against Gran Canaria's center duo of Khalifa Diop and Aleksander Balcerowski. The 22-year-old finished with 2 points, his joint lowest total of the season, and 5 rebounds. Only in one game has he had fewer rebounds: against Buducnost in Round 5 (4). Kamagate will therefore be hoping to turn things around on Wednesday, as he looks to get the better of Alpha Kaba.

Yet, Kaba will be feeling pretty confident ahead of his second matchup with Kamagate. When they met in late November, Kaba dominated the Paris center, recording a 17-point, 16-rebound double-double and also getting 3 steals. The Buducnost big man has been a force in this year's EuroCup, and another dominant performance may see his team exact some revenge for its Round 5 defeat to Paris.

Only Phil Booth and Trae Bell-Haynes joined Kaba in reaching double digits for scoring in Round 5, however Booth is no longer on the team's roster. Buducnost has been combing the market in recent months and has added some players to help it on its push to reach the EuroLeague, such as Erick Green, J.J. O'Brien and, in the last few days, Manu Lecomte. Green and O'Brien have played since Round 10, while Lecomte could make his debut in Round 14.

The best scoring plays of Buducnost VOLI Podgorica duo J.J. O'Brien and Erick Green since they joined the team ahead of Round 10 in the 7DAYS EuroCup.

J.J. O'Brien and Erick Green's best scoring plays since Round 10

In Buducnost's last game, a 78-68 triumph over the London Lions in Round 13, Green led the way with 16 points, while Bell-Haynes scored 14 and Cameron Reynolds contributed 11. O'Brien, a 2021 EuroCup champion with AS Monaco, had 8 points on his fourth appearance for the team, with his average in those games standing at 8.5 ppg. Green, meanwhile, a player with 102 games experience in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, has hit the ground running, scoring at least 16 points in three of his four games so far.

With just five games to go until the end of the regular season, this clash between Paris and Buducnost could go some way towards determining the playoff seeding in Group B. What's more, given that Paris won by 3 points in Round 5, Buducnost will be eager to overturn that deficit in order to win the tiebreaker, should it come down to that.

Both Paris and Buducnost have their sights set on the EuroLeague, and Wednesday's game in the French capital could be a chance for one of these two to show that they are ready to take the step-up to Europe's premier club basketball competition.

Game News

Paris vs. Buducnost: Two teams with big aspirations

Paris Basketball v Buducnost VOLI Podgorica (2023-02-08T19:30:00.000Z)

Jerian Grant carried Turk Telekom to Trento triumph

Jerian Grant produced his finest game yet for Turk Telekom Ankara to lead the team to a 72-80 road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento on Tuesday. His 26 points were a personal best and his 10-for-10 free throw shooting was just 1 off the club record. And on this night, his team needed all of it.

Starting center Tyrique Jones came into the game second to Grant in PIR on the team – and seventh in the EuroCup – in average PIR with 18.4, was ejected in the second quarter and finished without any points in 10:12 minutes on the floor. The team’s leading scorer, Axel Boutielle, contributed 12 points, but did so with subpar shooting; he made 2 of 5 two-pointers and 2 of 7 threes. The team’s next-best scorer, Tony Taylor, finished with 7 points after making 1 of 3 two-pointer and 1 of 4 threes.

Grant was not only efficient, but he was timely. He missed his first shot and committed 2 turnovers in the first 2 minutes. After another turnover midway through the opening quarter, Grant would not commit another. He scored 16 second-quarter points, including the go-ahead three-pointer, to help Turk Telekom take a slim halftime lead, 40-43.

He keyed the key fourth-quarter run too. After Darion Atkins drew the hosts within 59-62, Grant assisted on the next 5 points before scoring in the lane to establish a double-digit lead from which Trento never recovered.  

Perhaps Grant’s most impressive number of the night was 12. That’s how many points Turk Telekom outscored Trento by when he was on the floor. In the 3 minutes and 22 seconds that Grant sat out, Trento outscored the visitors by 4.

Game Videos

Dolomiti Energia Trento v Turk Telekom Ankara (2023-02-07T19:00:00.000Z)

Tale of two halves for Joventut  

Joventut Badalona’s thrilling 82-76 comeback victory over ratiopharm Ulm was truly a tale of two halves - nearly breaking records both in a good and bad way. Joventut rallied from 20 points down (39-59) to get the win, the largest comeback ever by the club to win a 7DAYS EuroCup game. That bested the previous record of 16 points against Morabanc Andorra in the 2019-20 season.

It was not Joventut’s biggest-ever comeback in the EuroCup as the Spanish side fought back from 23 points down against Virtus Segafredo Bologna during the 2020-21 season. But Joventut ended up losing that game.

Joventut’s 24 first-half points were the second-lowest score ever by the team in the first half of a EuroCup game. The fewest were 23 points against Spirou Charleroi in the 2002-03 season - taking place 20 years and 3 days ago.

Joventut poured in 58 points in the second half, the second-most points the club has scored in the second half of a EuroCup game - and most in a regular season game. The most points Joventut has ever scored in the second half of a EuroCup game were 64 points against Unicaja Malaga during the 2019-20 season.

Joventut Badalona v ratiopharm Ulm (2023-02-07T19:15:00.000Z)

Joventut rallies from 20 points down to beat Ulm

Joventut Badalona rallied from 20 points down in the third quarter to grab a thrilling 82-76 home win over ratiopharm Ulm. Joventut used runs of 22-2 and 12-0 in the second half and scored 34 points in the final 10 minutes to improve to 9-5 - including a season sweep of Ulm.

Joel Parra tallied 20 of his team-high 22 points in the second half while Ante Tomic scored 16 points and Kyle Guy chipped in 15 points for Joventut, which can lock up a playoff spot if U-BT Cluj-Napoca loses its game on Wednesday. Ulm saw its three-game winning streak snapped to drop to 8-6. Yago dos Santos flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in the loss and Brandon Paul and Thomas Klepeisz both added 12 points.

Ulm’s first 4 baskets were from long range and the visitors led 8-14 early. Joventut was held scoreless for 4 minutes before Vladimir Brodziansky scored his first basket back with the team. Ulm did not score a basket in the final 5 minutes of the quarter, but led 13-18 after 10 minutes.

Ulm netted the first 5 points of the second quarter for a double-digit lead 13-23. Ulm failed to score for nearly 3 minutes but Joventut could not take advantage of it and two dunks by Josh Hawley increased the lead to 21-35. A Henry Ellenson triple drew Joventut within 24-35 at the break.

Parra and Guy nailed three-pointers and Joventut pulled within 34-40. Dos Santos, however, sank a pair of triples of his own and set up three-pointers from Robin Christen and Thomas Klepeisz to increase the gap to 36-56. Joventut used the long-range attack to try and stay close with 2 Guillem Vives three-pointers making it 48-61 after 30 minutes.

Parra stepped up with 9 points in a 13-0 start of the final frame to knot the game 61-61. Dos Santos’s layup snapped the 22-2 Joventut run followed by assists on 2 triples and another three-pointer to put Ulm up 65-72. Joventut would not be denied with a 12-0 run over 3 minutes to lead 77-72. Tomic scored down low and Parra added 2 free throws to finish off the game.

Carles Duran, Joventut: 'The effort was incredible'

### Joventut Badalona head coach Carles Duran:

"The effort was incredible. But today we played bad, very bad. I think Ulm played better than us. But in the last quarter we played with effort, played better on offense, and the key was defense. We kept fighting the whole time and improved on defending the pick-and-roll. And we won. It’s an important win for us. But in the future, we have to try to play better because it will be very difficult.

"Thank you to the fans because in the second half the team played with an extra player because the fans were incredible on offense and defense."

### ratiopharm Ulm head coach Anton Gavel:

"Congratulations to Carles \[Duran\] and his team for this win. I think we managed the game pretty well for the first three quarters, or the first 25 minutes, similar to the game at home. We built ourselves a lead, which was pretty good. We were defending well. But then we completely fell apart. We made bad decisions. We started worrying about referees and all that kind of stuff which we definitely should not do. Offensively we were just making poor decisions. We tried to solve the problems by ourselves one on one. It didn’t work and we paid for it."

### Joventut Badalona forward Joel Parra:

"It was an amazing second half by the whole team. This is our home and it’s so important for us to win at home. Ulm has played well all season. They are one of the rivals to stay in the top four. It's an important win, a 2-0 sweep of them."

### [Dolomiti Energia Trento 72-80 Turk Telekom Ankara](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2022-23/dolomiti-energia-trento-turk-telekom-ankara/U2022/136/)

Turk Telekom recorded consecutive wins for the first time in 2023 by racing past Trento 72-80 on Tuesday night. The victory lifted Turk Telekom to 10-4 and, at least temporarily, into second place in Group B. Trento fell to 2-12 and is ninth place in the group. Jerian Grant scored 20 of his career-high 26 points in the first half to lead the winners. He also dished 5 assists en route to a personal best PIR of 30. Toto Forray and Diego Flaccadori each went for 18 points and 7 assists to pace Trento.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coach Erdem Can&#39;s comments after the game.<a href="https://twitter.com/TT_Basketbol?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TT_Basketbol</a> <a href="https://t.co/1dD5IHj8Qu">pic.twitter.com/1dD5IHj8Qu</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1623064832345010176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

### [Joventut Badalona 82-76 ratiopharm Ulm](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2022-23/joventut-badalona-ratiopharm-ulm/U2022/132/)

Joventut rallied from 20 points down in the third quarter to grab a thrilling 82-76 home win over Ulm. Joventut used runs of 22-2 and 12-0 in the second half and scored 34 points in the final 10 minutes to improve to 9-5 - including a season sweep of Ulm. Joel Parra tallied 20 of his team-high 22 points in the second half while Ante Tomic scored 16 for Joventut, which can lock up a playoff spot if U-BT Cluj-Napoca loses its game on Wednesday. Ulm saw its three-game winning streak snapped to drop to 8-6. Yago dos Santos flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in the loss.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ca" dir="ltr">💚🖤 FINAAAAL! QUINA REMUNTADA!!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/Penya1930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Penya1930</a> 82-76 <a href="https://twitter.com/ratiopharmulm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ratiopharmulm</a> <br><br>🎯 Joel Parra: 22 punts<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Badalona%C3%89sFutur?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BadalonaÉsFutur</a> <a href="https://t.co/Jp3LclWJjw">pic.twitter.com/Jp3LclWJjw</a></p>&mdash; Club Joventut Badalona (@Penya1930) <a href="https://twitter.com/Penya1930/status/1623067864344195088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Game center: Turk Telekom, Joventut open Round 14 with wins

Turk Telekom tops Trento 72-80 

Turk Telekom Ankara recorded consecutive wins for the first time in 2023 by racing past Dolomiti Energia Trento 72-80 on Tuesday night. The victory lifted Turk Telekom to 10-4 and, at least temporarily, into second place in Group B. Trento fell to 2-12 and is ninth place in the group.

Jerian Grant scored 20 of his career-high 26 points in the first half to lead the winners. He also dished 5 assists en route to a personal best PIR of 30. Axel Bouteille added 12 points, Nathan Sestina and Mehmet Yagmur netted 11 and Erkan Yilmaz had 10 for Turk Telekom. Toto Forray and Diego Flaccadori each went for 18 points and 7 assists to pace Trento, Darion Atkins amassed 12 points and 9 rebounds and Andrejs Grazulis also scored 12 in defeat.

Turk Telekom struggled early and was unable to score in the first 3 minutes as Trento grabbed a 4-0 lead. Grant soon got the visitors back on track as Turk Telekom scored 7 straight points.  Forray came off the bench for 12 points in 3 minutes as the hosts went back ahead, 18-12. Bouteille’s layup drew Turk Telekom within 20-17 after 10 minutes.

The teams traded shots to start the second quarter and Flaccadori helped Trento keep Turk Telekom at bay, 30-24, after a technical foul was called on visiting head coach Erdem Cam. Grant heated up again to rally Turk Telekom and gave his team the lead, 36-37, with a three from the corner. Trento guard Trent Lockett and visiting center Tyrique Jones were both ejected after an altercation between them with 2:26 remaining in the half. Turk Telekom held on for a 40-43 halftime advantage.

Tony Taylor took charge with 5 points in a row to stretch the Turk Telekom lead to 44-53, but Grazulis played a key role in a 6-0 spurt to trim the deficit. Trento got as close as 2 and finished the third quarter down 54-59.

Atkins had the hot hand for Trento and his jumper made it 59-62. Grant dished a pair of assists and buried a shot in the lane to fuel a 0-7 run that gave the visitors a double-digit lead. Trento refused to give in, but was unable to string together enough scores in a row to threaten and Yilmaz's three in the penultimate minute all but put the game on ice.