Real Madrid has captured the 2023 ANGT title by defeating Next Generation Select Team and thereby becoming the first club in history with four U18 continental championships. Real saw its 16-2 early lead go to waste but its balanced attack prevailed in the end along with a tough defensive effort. In the end, Real added the crown to its trophies from 2015, 2019 and 2021.
Real only had five players score and all of them were in double figures : Jan Vide with 19 points (and 7 rebounds and 6 assists), Hugo Gonzalez 17, Mitar Bosnjakovic 13, Ismaila Diagne 12 (and 10 rebounds plus 2 blocks) and Egor Demin 10
NGS Team lost in the ANGT Championship Game for the second straight season despite Illan Pietrus scoring 15 points and Mouhamed Faye picking up 10 points.
The Most Valuable Player of the ANGT Finals was named Jan Vide from U18 Real Madrid
Joining Vide on the All-Tournament Team were Mouhamed Faye of U18 Next Generation Select Team, U18 Kasparas Jakucionis of U18 FC Barcelona, Bogoljub Markovic from U18 Mega MIS Belgrade and Nikola Topic from U18 Crvena Zvezda Belgrade.
U18 Real Madrid was hungry to return to the top of Europe and win the 2023 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament title. But there was extra motivation for Jan Vide as the Real guard was playing his final youth game for the team.
Vide poured in 19 points to go with 7 rebounds and 6 assists for an index rating of 25 in Real’s 71-60 victory over U18 Next Generation Select Team for the club’s record fourth ANGT crown.
"Winning the most important tournament - the hardest one - with this team, I have the privilege of playing with those guys and that staff. It’s amazing. I have no words," said Vide, who was named ANGT Finals Most Valuable Player.
For the tournament, the Slovenian guard averaged 21.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals for an average PIR of 21.3.
"It feels amazing. We knew that our season was good except for losing the domestic (U18) championship. We showed everyone how good we are. When things go bad we stay together, and we demonstrated that on the court and in the end, we won. And we own the ring now," Vide said.
After winning the U18 continental championship in 2019 and 2021, Real came up short last season, losing to U18 Mega MIS Belgrade in the group stage of the ANGT Finals in Belgrade to miss out on the title bout - which gave returnees Vide, Ismaila Diagne and Abel Delicado extra motivation for this season.
