Dragons to face Frutti Extra Bursaspor in the homeopener of the 7DAYS EuroCup

Cedevita Olimpija will begin the new 7DAYS EuroCup season with a clash against the team, that knocked the Dragons out of the playoffs in the 2021/22 season. Frutti Extra Bursaspor is coming to Ljubljana on Wednesday, and the game in Stožice Arena will begin at 20.00, with live stream available on Euroleague TV.

There is plenty of history between Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and the last year’s finalist Frutti Extra Bursaspor, which clash in the opening round of the 2022-23 season. Even though they never played each other before November 2020, the two teams have faced off five times in a span of 19 months, which has created a bit of a rivalry between them. Cedevita won three of those games. The most important one, however, went Brusaspor’s way, an 83-85 thrilling quarterfinals win last April.

Their last encounter was also the lowest-scoring game between the two teams. Cedevita has averaged 94.2 points per game against coach Dusan Alimpijevic’s Bursaspor, which in turn has scored 86.4 points on average against Cedevita. Each team has scored at least 80 points in each of the five games and Cedevita enters this season having scored 82 or more points in 10 consecutive games. Offenses with the likes of Yogi Ferrell and Alen Omic on one side and Derek Needham and Onuralp Bitim on the other, there should be plenty of fireworks at Stozice Arena on Wednesday.

Jurica Golemac, head coach of Cedevita Olimpija:
“Frutti Extra Bursaspor has certainly increased in quality compared to last season. The Turkish team has more experience, Dušan Alimpijević is also leading the team from the bench for the second season. Frutti Extra Bursaspor is playing excellent basketball, at this moment I would even say that they are a better team than us. I’m not saying that they have better players, but they are certainly a better team that was together throughout the preparation period, even without problems with injuries or players who were part of national team campaigns. In this aspect, we’re definitely behind our opponents, at least based on their games we’ve watched. We’ll have to play physical and intense and not allow easy baskets. We’ll have to close our hoop and respond to their speed.”

Alen Omić, player of Cedevita Olimpija:
“We have played two games in the new season and none of the teams we have played against so far can compare to Frutti Extra Bursaspor. We are talking about a team that reached the finals of the 7DAYS EuroCup last season. It is an excellent and serious team that has all playing positions well covered. The core of the team has remained practically the same as last season, the coach is also the same, and Zach August, who was part of our team last season, has joined them during the summer. We know that our rivals will come to Ljubljana with the desire to win. We must all breathe as one, fight to the last and do everything to record a victory in front of the home fans.”

7DAYS EUROCUP, GROUP A

REGULAR SEASON, ROUND 1

Stožice Arena (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Wednesday, October 12, at 20.00:
CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA – FRUTTI EXTRA BURSASPOR (live stream on Euroleague TV)