BCL Semifinals, Preview: AEK vs Zaragoza

After having beat Nymburk and Tenerife respectively, AEK and Zaragoza will face each other in the semifinals of the Basketball Champions League tonight at 20:30 CET.

Here’s some stats to know ahead of the game:

– AEK will play their second semi-final in four BCL seasons and will again face a Spanish team: in 2018 they eliminated UCAM Murcia in their way to the Final (77-75).

– Casademont Zaragoza have won their last nine BCL games, the current longest winning run in the BCL; they were trailing at half-time in three of their last four games, including the last two.

– AEK have won eight of their 10 home games in the BCL Playoffs, a joint-high tally of wins alongside Iberostar Tenerife in this phase of the competition; no other team has more than four home wins in the BCL Playoffs.

– AEK have won five of the seven games they have played against Spanish teams in the BCL but have lost the most recent duel with a team from that country: 76-93 v San Pablo Burgos in January 2020, AEK’s heaviest defeat in the competition.

– Casademont Zaragoza have lost the only BCL game they have played in Greece: 78-93 v PAOK in November 2019; only against Neptunas Klaipeda (18 points) have they lost by a bigger point differential in the BCL.

– AEK have scored 90+ points in their last three games in the BCL but have never scored that many points in four or more games in a row in the competition; AEK have made an average of 92 points per game in the Playoffs this season, the most of all teams.

– Casademont Zaragoza have grabbed an average of 42.1 points per game in the BCL, the most for any team in the competition this season; they have grabbed 40+ rebounds in three of their last four games in the BCL.

– Ilias Papatheodou has won two of the six games he has managed against Spanish teams in the BCL; his team was leading at half-time in only one of those six games.

– Keith Langford scored 30 points in his last home game against a Spanish team in the BCL (v San Pablo Burgos, November 2019), the most for him in a single game in the competition; Langford has scored 18+ points in 10 of his 15 BCL games.

– Robin Benzing scored 17 points in his last BCL game, but he is yet to score more than 15 points in consecutive games in the competition.

The winning team will play for the trophy on Sunday night at 19:00 CET, while the losing team will play for the third place on Sunday at 16:00 CET.