A memorable performance by the Reds' forward.
Round 20 MVP: Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos Piraeus
Awards
3 Mins read
A record-breaking performance in a big home win allowed Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus to earn Round 20 MVP honors with a PIR of 52 – the highest PIR of any player this season and the sixth highest all-time.
Vezenkov had a near-perfect performance to lead Olympiacos to a 112-69 home victory over FC Bayern Munich. He finished the game with a career-best 45 points, the third-best scoring mark in competition history. Nigel Hayes-Davis leads the all-time list with 50 points against ALBA Berlin in 2024, and Shane Larkin had 49 against Bayern in 2019. Vezenkov hit 10-of-10 two-pointers, 8-of-10 three-pointers and 1-of-1 free throws. He added 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 foul drawn. His PIR of 52 is the sixth-best figure in competition history. Tanoka Beard leads the board with a PIR of 63, followed by Jaka Lakovic and the late Dejan Milojevic with 55 each. Marko Popovic (54) and Larkin (53) are ahead of Vezenkov in this list. He has earned MVP of the Round honors for the 13th time in his career, ranking third in this list only behind Larkin (17 times) and Nando De Colo (16). It is his fourth MVP of the Round honor this season.
Jerian Grant of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens amassed a PIR of 33 in his team's 96-84 home win over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. Grant finished that game with 14 points on 5-of-5 two-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 4 fouls drawn. Zach LeDay reached a PIR of 26 in leading EA7 Emporio Armani Milan to a 74-107 road win over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. In 19 minutes, LeDay had 17 points on 5-of-5 two-pointers and 7-of-7 free throws, 3 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn. Dario Brizuela of FC Barcelona and Joel Bolomboy of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, each with a PIR of 25, complete the list of the best individual performances in Round 20. Brizuela paced Barcelona in an 84-98 win at AS Monaco with 27 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting, along with 2 rebounds and 2 assists, while Bolomboy led Zvezda in an 85-69 win over Paris Basketball with 8 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Individual highs: Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos, 45 points
Sasha Vezenkov led all scorers in Round 20 with 45 points – a new career high and an Olympiacos record, beating the 36 points Marque Perry scored in an 89-83 win over Cibona Zagreb on January 6, 2005. Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos is the competition's top scorer with 21.2 points per game.
Crvena Zvezda’s Joel Bolomboy pulled down 15 rebounds, the most in this round. Walter Tavares of Real Madrid leads the rankings with 7.9 rebounds per game, as Bolomboy (9.0 rpg.) does not qualify having appeared in nine out of 20 games this season due to injury.
Mike James of Monaco and Jerian Grant of Panathinaikos each dished 8 assists, more than anyone else in Round 20. Tamir Blatt of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv ranks first overall with 7.8 assists per night.
Olympiacos’s Nigel Williams-Goss collected a round-high 5 steals against Bayern. Nick Weiler-Babb of Bayern ranks first overall (1.61 spg.), slightly ahead of Monaco’s Alpha Diallo (1.57 spg.).
Georgios Papagiannis of Monaco had 4 blocks to lead this round's standings. He is also first overall, averaging 1.4 blocks per contest.
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz’s Nikos Rogkavopoulos (13 points and 10 rebounds) was the only player to record a double-double in Round 20.