Nikola Djurisic was named the Most Valuable Player award of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals for leading U18 Mega Mozzart Belgrade to its first ANGT title in club history.
Djurisic named ANGT Finals MVP after helping Mega to title
Article
2 Mins read
At a ceremony at halftime of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game, Djurisic headlined the All-Tournament Team which also included his teammate and center Bassala Bagayoko, forward Pacome Dadiet of the U18 Next Generation Select Team, guard Kymany Houinsou from U18 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and U18 Real Madrid center Eli Ndiaye.
Djurisic, Houinsou and Ndiaye all made the ANGT Finals All-Tournament Team in 2020-21 with Ndiaye being named MVP last season.
Djurisic spearheaded a big fourth quarter run in Mega's 82-61 victory over NGS in the ANGT Championship Game and finished with a team-high 21 points to go with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal for a performance index rating of 8. For the tournament, the guard collected 20.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 9.0 fouls drawn for a PIR of 16.3.
Bagayoko played a major role in Mega getting the title as well as he tallied 16 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals for a PIR of 28 in the Championship Game. In three games, he averaged 17.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.7 blocks for an average PIR of 28.0.
Bagayoko also took home the Rising Star award as the best player born 2005 or later. The 2006-born big man follows in the footsteps of Paulius Murauskas, who won the only previous edition of the honor, in 2019.
Dadiet helped NGS reach the ANGT Championship Game, where he picked up 5 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals for a PIR of 4. For the tournament he had 13.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals and an index rating of 13.5.
Houinsou averaged 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.7 steals and 6.7 fouls drawn for an average PIR of 24.0 for ASVEL, which finished with a 2-1 record.
Ndiaye had 15.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals 1.0 blocks and 20.3 PIR for a Real team that also had a 2-1 record.