Veteran forward Ivan Ramljak chats about how things are looking for Slask Wroclaw this season. 

Ivan Ramljak, Slask: 'Basketball is growing in Poland'

Slask Wroclaw is back in the 7DAYS EuroCup after 13 seasons away from the competition. It is part of a comeback at all levels, as Slask is trying to become the team to beat in Polish basketball while competing in the EuroCup. Though Slask has won 17 Polish League titles, it lifted that trophy for the last time in 2002.

This week Slask will play for the first possible trophy this season, the Polish Cup. Before that tournament begins, veteran forward Ivan Ramljak, who is in his second season with team, spoke about the rise of Polish basketball and his experience in a country where basketball has always been important and is now as popular as ever. 

Ramljak and Slask come off a victory, their second in the EuroCup this season, over Turk Telekom Ankara 80-67. Ramljak said he believes his team's work over the last few months paid off in this game, which could be a turning point for the season. 

"In the EuroCup, I think that everybody can beat everybody… We just need to stay focused and try to win every game when we step on the court."

"I think it was our best game on the offensive side, for sure. I don't know why, but we were playing really, really good in defense," said Ramljak. "We started the game really well, making shots, playing good defense and we just kept playing like that for 40 minutes and I think, at any moment in the game, I felt we were controlling everything on offense and defense for the whole game. And luckily for us, we won the game." 

Slask was close to winning three road games, but fell against very good teams. It suffered an 86-83 loss against Boulogne Metropolitans 92 when it missed a shot at the buzzer to force overtime. Slask took its road game against Dolomiti Energia Trento to an extra period, but ended up losing 81-77. Most remarkably, Slask was close to beating Partizan NIS Belgrade in the Serbian capital. It led 70-73 with 20 seconds left but a couple of turnovers prevented the guests from capturing a prestigious win. 

"It would have been nice to win some games on the road, especially because we lost three-four games in the last possessions, especially against Partizan in Belgrade," Ramljak recalled. "It was our toughest loss this season. We had the game in our hands and made two stupid mistakes in the end and lost the game. But in the EuroCup, I think that everybody can beat everybody. Of course, there are some favorites, better teams, but I think it is impossible for a team to win all games. So we just need to stay focused and try to win every game when we step on the court."

Slask is also getting great support at home. One of the reasons that made Ramljak want to come back to the team for a second season was to be able to play in front of the local fans. 

"Last season, when I was here, it was difficult because of COVID. Everything was closed and we had to play in empty arenas. It was the first time in my life that I was playing in those conditions. I mean, it was for everybody like that. But this year, we have a lot of fans in our games, supporting us, so it's totally different. And always, whenever you are playing, if you are winning, people want to come to the game and support you," Ramljak said, before sending an optimistic message for Slask fans. "I'm not saying that we are going to win a championship, but I think that there is a pretty good chance that we win the Polish championship this season." 

Slask underwent an early roster change when Andrej Urlep stepped in as head coach, replacing Petar Mijovic. Coach Urlep is in his fourth stint with Slask and was the last coach to win the Polish League with the team. A Polish basketball legend, Urlep won five Polish League crowns - four of them with Slask, the other with Anwil Wloclawek - and coached its national team. Ramljak believes that Coach Urlep needed some time to make things work, but has managed to do so and the team is ready to compete even harder. 

"Urlep is old school, but for me, it's working. I can't say about any other player or people, but for me, it's working," Ramljak admitted. "We didn't start the season very well. We had some injured players, and after that, we lost two-three games in a row. They changed the coach, so we needed some time to settle, but now I think that we are looking much better than a few months ago." 

Putting the city of Wroclaw back on the European basketball map is Slask's mission and having devoted fans definitely helps. The Polish national team made it to the 2019 World Cup quarterfinals and some of its best players, Maciej Lampe and Adam Waczynski, lifted the EuroCup trophy in recent years.

"Coach Urlep is old school, but for me, it's working… I think that we are looking much better than a few months ago." 

"Basketball is really important here because they have history. They won a lot of championships before and now they want to get back on this track, to fight to win championships and play at a high level. I think we are on a good way. Until the end of the season, we are going game again game, staying focused, Ramljak said. 

"When I talk to Polish players and people, they are saying that basketball is growing in Poland, it's going up: the national team, the clubs and everything. There are a lot of good things in Polish basketball and we have really good fans, which is nice. It is always better to play when the gym is full."

Ramljak played four EuroCup seasons with Cedevita Zagreb before the club merged with Olimpija Ljubljana becoming Cedevita Olimpija. He said that he believes the new format has made the competition stronger and the knock-out rounds could bring a lot of excitement to anyone following the EuroCup. 

"The EuroCup is much more difficult than it was before because you play against more teams, home and away. They wanted to make a competition more similar to the EuroLeague. And now, in this kind of competition, I think everybody has a chance to win because you play only one game in each playoff round," he said. "And in one game, anything can happen."

Ivan Ramljak - Slask Wroclaw (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

## Group A

### [Morabanc Andorra vs. Slask Wroclaw](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2021-22/morabanc-andorra-slask-wroclaw/U2021/84/)

MoraBanc Andorra (6-6) will try to get back to winning ways when it hosts Slask Wroclaw (2-9) in their rescheduled Round 9 game on Tuesday. It is the first-ever clash between these two teams. Andorra has lost four of its last five games, including two in a row at home, but with a win in this one, it gets right back into the thick of things in the race for home-court advantage in the playoffs. Slask, on the other hand, is winless on the road in five games so far this season and needs this win to keep alive its playoff hopes.

## Group B

### [Umana Reyer Venice vs. Gran Canaria](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2021-22/umana-reyer-venice-gran-canaria/U2021/89/)

In the first of its two games this week, Group B leader Gran Canaria (9-2) will put its perfect road record on the line when it visits in-form Umana Reyer Venice (6-5) in their rescheduled Round 9 game at Palasport Taliercio on Tuesday. Reyer has won its last two games and four of its last five and will try to keep its momentum going against the visitors who can become the first team from Group B to secure a playoff spot with a victory. In addition, Gran Canaria is on a five-game winning streak and a win would firmly put it into the driver's seat for the first-place race in this group.

### [Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse vs. Gran Canaria](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2021-22/mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse-gran-canaria/U2021/130/)

Gran Canaria (9-2) will engage in its second game in 48 hours when it visits Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (4-8) in their rescheduled Round 13 game on Thursday. If Gran Canaria does not already qualify for the playoffs ahead of this game, it will have another chance to do so with a victory in this contest. In the first game between two sides, Gran Canaria thrashed Bourg 78-49 in Round 4 after opening the game on a 21-1 run. Bourg has won three of its last four home games and will try to protect its home court once more against the group leader.

EuroCup week at a Glance

### MoraBanc Andorra head coach David Eudal:

"We came to the game after two consecutive defeats and we want to play a good game and take the victory. We know they will come for the victory, they are a team that plays good basketball and it won't be easy to win. We have to turn the page on Sunday's defeat in a game in which we didn't start with the intensity we wanted." 

### MoraBanc Andorra player Conor Morgan:

"Tomorrow's game is important for us to get back on track of the victory in the EuroCup and we know that it will be difficult because the rival plays good basketball on our part, I am clear that the key will be to play well together and recover the toughness of our best games."

Pre-game quotes: Andorra vs. Slask

MoraBanc Andorra v Slask Wroclaw (2022-02-15T19:00:00.000Z)

David Eudal - MoraBanc Andorra (photo Trento) - EC21


Having won the first leg of their two-way quarterfinal by 26 points away, Cedevita started slowly on Monday, with Lasko leading 20-23 after 10 minutes. The tide started turning then as Cedevita jumped ahead 47-41 by halftime with Dan Duscak and Zach Auguste leading the way. Jacob Pullen and Luka Scuka took over after the break as the lead stretched to 69-55 after 30 minutes and continued to the easy final win.

Duscak and Auguste finished with 16 points each, the former adding 7 assists, the latter 7 rebounds. Scuka followed with 14 points and Pullen with 11. The Dragons will now play a single-elimination semifinal on Thursday against Krka Novo Mesto at Kodeljevo Sports Hall in Ljubljana.

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana stormed into the semifinals of the Slovenian Cup by completing a two-game quarterfinals sweep of Zlatorog Lasko with a resounding 91-71 victory on Monday at home in Stozice Arena.

Domestic cups: Cedevita through to Slovenian semis

dan_duscak_cedevita_olimpija_photo_cedevita

### Umana Reyer Venice head coach Walter De Raffaele:

"We face the leader of our group, that might be enough to explain their strength. Gran Canaria got a deep and quality roster with great physical impact in every spot. We need to compete on boards and match up their physicality in order to limit their fastbreak, an important weapon for them. Offensively we have to move the ball with a good pace, that’s our goal." 

### Umana Reyer Venice player Michael Bramos:

"Gran Canaria is in first place of our group so it will be a tough game. We will try to protect our home court because home wins are important. We also want build on our last two victories in EuroCup to improve our position in this group."

Here are some insights from the game by the protagonists themselves.

Pre-game quotes: Venice - Gran Canaria

Umana Reyer Venice v Gran Canaria (2022-02-15T19:00:00.000Z)

Walter De Raffaele - Umana Reyer Venice (photo Buducnost) - EC21

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana has escaped from Group B cellar and is looking optimistic about the remainder of the regular season thanks to back-to-back victories, the last of which came on the road against ratiopharm Ulm behind its veteran in-season addition Zoran Dragic.



Cedevita signings click, hoping to be 'even better'

Cedevita and Ulm offered an extremely exciting game to all basketball fans in their Round 13 clash last week. It was not the first time they did so this season. When they previously faced each other back in Round 4 in November, Ulm prevailed 96-101 in a double-overtime thriller that saw Ulm blow a 21-point lead and ended up featuring five scorers with at least 20 points.

Since then, Cedevita has made some significant changes in its roster. Its latest addition was Slovenian guard Dragic, who joined the team early in January after leaving Kaunas, where he played for Zalgiris in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. In just his fourth game with his new teammates, Dragic proved his signing was a great choice by pushing Cedevita to a 96-104 road win.

“We changed the team during the season and now every game is important, as we don’t have time to practice. Every game, we are trying to get better chemistry. The guys are believing in each other and that’s the most important," recognized Cedevita head coach Jurica Goleac after the game against Ulm.

Dragic was his team’s top scorer and performer in the victory in Ulm, a place he knows well after spending half of the 2019-20 season there. Against his former club, Dragic finished with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists for a PIR of 25 and was the go-to guy when the game was on the line in the last quarter.

"It was a very tough game. We know that Ulm is playing great basketball and we just fought till the end. First half we let them score too much, easy baskets, and in the second half we played defense, we stuck together like a team, and we won", he said a few minutes after the final buzzer.

Besides his good stats, Dragic showed up when his team needed him most. He scored 8 of Cedevita’s first 15 points to get his team going and fuel a 10-15 lead midway through the first quarter. Late in the game, right after Thomas Klepeisz made it a one-possession game, 92-94, with only 2:26 remaining, Dragic took over from behind the arc and drilled a pair of three-pointers that sealed the outcome and helped the visitors win the head-to-head tiebreaker too.

"For sure for the fans it was a great basketball game, almost 200 points. For the coach, is not so great, but there were great individual players on the court and they scored amazing shots", reflected Golemac on the high-scoring affair. "In the end, we were luckier, we scored some tough shots in the end.”

With its second win in a row and third on the road this season, Cedevita not only improved to 5-7 and got closer to the middle of the pack in Group B, but looks more confidently at its future, knowing that the new roster seems to have clicked already. Dragic seemed to think that way too:

"We have a great group of guys and we are just trying to play the best basketball we can. Now we feel each other and I hope we can be even better."

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana has escaped from the Group B cellar and is looking optimistic about the remainder of the regular season thanks to back-to-back victories, the last of which came on the road against ratiopharm Ulm behind its veteran in-season addition Zoran Dragic.

10 One Team, Zoran Dragic - Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (photo Larry Langer - Ulm) - EC21

ratiopharm Ulm v Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (2022-02-09T18:30:00.000Z)

Shot-makers had their day in Round 13 of the 7DAYS EuroCup.

Stats Review: The luxury of good pull-up shooters

### High-Gravity Matchups

Frutti Extra Bursaspor scored a key win at home over Promitheas Patras to push itself above the cut line in Group B — a spot that feels destined to come down to the wire with just two games separating ninth and fourth place. 

### Pull-Up Shooters

In that win, Andrew Andrews scored an absurd 11 points on 4 pull-up jump shots handling the ball in the pick-and-roll. Putting together his best effort of the season in his first start in over two months, Andrews could not have been more opportunistic getting to his jump off the bounce against Promitheas.

That kind of efficiency is a luxury at any level. In the EuroCup, teams are shooting an effective field goal percentage of 46% on the year. Effective field goal percentage adjusts for the value of three-point attempts over two-point attempts—especially relevant as 46% of all dribble jump shots this season have come inside the arc. Taking those numbers a step further to compare them to the league at large, pull-up two-pointers result in 0.78 points per attempt and pull-up threes result in 0.98 points per attempt while the average half-court possession is worth 0.94 points per possession overall. 

There’s immense value in players who can make shots with consistency and range off the dribble and several players have been especially impactful with their shooting. Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana point guard Yogi Ferrell has been tremendous since joining the club, making over half of his pull-up threes, the majority of which have come off of ball screens. Being able to give the ball to Ferrell and have him make shots at such an efficient rate creating for himself has added a dimension to Olimpija’s offense and has been a big reason it has risen to sixth in the EuroCup in offensive efficiency.

While it was Andrew Andrews who stepped up in Round 13, Derek Needham has been Bursaspor’s most dangerous shooter on the year. 

What’s made the EuroCup veteran unique has been his consistency not just beyond the arc, but inside it as well; he’s shot 53% inside the arc and from deep.

Clevin Hannah and DJ Seeley have both been aggressive off the bounce this season with Seeley being the more prolific of the two inside the arc. While they may not be quite as consistent as Ferrell or Needham, both have been explosive in spurts for their respective teams.  

Kevin Punter is an outlier in this group. He’s shot more pull-up two-point jumpers than three-pointers and has made a ridiculous 68% of his dribble jumpers inside the arc. Perhaps no player in the EuroCup this season has made tough shots as often as he has for Partizan NIS Belgrade. 

Whether it’s a pull-up two over a dropping defender, an iso step-back against a switch, or a desperation shot at the end of the clock, pull-up jumpers do not have an overwhelmingly high expected value making the players who convert them consistently a luxury for their teams.

### Looking Ahead to Round 14

Gran Canaria’s Round 14 home game with Bursaspor is bigger for the visitors than the hosts, but it's how the club will spend the first week of the break that is especially notable. Playing a pair of makeup road games, Gran Canaria will have a chance to get two games clear of Valencia at the top of Group B when it travels to take on Umana Reyer Venice and Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse just two days apart. 

It is virtually unprecedented for EuroCup teams to play road two games in three days but the test for Gran Canaria matches the opportunity as it has a chance to give itself what may be an insurmountable cushion at the top of the standings with only five games remaining.

Derek Needham - Frutti Extra Bursaspor (photo Bursaspor) - EC21

Andorra swingman Drew Crawford has been one of the best shooters in the EuroCup this season. Crawford has totaled 23 three-point shots this season on 46.0% three-point shooting. Only four players in the EuroCup this season have made at least 23 triples and done so at 46.0% or better accuracy. Crawford has made 3 or more three-pointers in five of his 11 appearances this season and him finding his range in this contest would be a major boost for Andorra.

No Slask player has started every game and played more minutes than small forward Ivan Ramljak. Athletic and tough, the do-it-all forward is contributing 6.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals so far this season. But Ramljak's contribution might be even bigger on the other end as he does not shy away from any defensive assignments. Ramljak can play aggressive defense on the perimeter against the ball carriers, but it will be equally important if he helps keep Crawford and the rest of Andorra's dangerous backcourt in check.

Swingmen Drew Crawford of MoraBanc Andorra and Ivan Ramljak of Slask Wroclaw will go head to head in one of the key matchups in this Round 9 rescheduled game.

Major matchup: Crawford, Andorra vs. Ramljak, Slask

### Andorra must increase percentages inside

Andorra wants to snap its two-game losing streak and to do so it needs to restore its offensive production. It scored at least 80 points in six of its first seven games and had a 5-2 record, but has now failed to score that many in four of its last five and lost all four of those games to drop to 6-6. Andorra's only two games where it failed to make at least 50% of its two-point shots came during this stretch and the team will need to focus on getting efficient inside, whether through its big men or with Codi Miller-McIntyre (13.8 ppg., 7.2 apg.) getting more to the rim to open up better looks for Clevin Hannah (10.8 ppg., 42.3% 3FG), Drew Crawford (11.3 ppg., 46.0% 3FG) and the rest of its perimeter players.

### Slask needs defense

To get its first road win of this season, Slask must play better defensively. In the two games it has won this season, Slask allowed just 69.0 points per game. But in its nine losses, the team has allowed 83.1. The biggest factor has been the team's defense close to the basket, where Slask kept opponents to 42.0% on two-point shooting in those two wins. As the second-best rebounding team in the EuroCup, averaging 39.1 rebounds, Slask has the tools to make it work and increase its chances to catch up with the rest of the teams in the race for the playoffs.

MoraBanc Andorra will hope to get back to winning ways when it faces Slask Wroclaw, which has its back against the wall.

Keys to victory: Andorra vs. Slask, Round 9

Drew Crawford - MoraBanc Andorra (photo Martin Imatge - Andorra) - EC21