Rīgas Zeļļi Head to Spain to Face Burgos in EuroCup

Latvian basketball club Rīgas Zeļļi play their fifth EuroCup game, in Europe's second-tier club basketball competition, on 28 October at 21:30 Latvian time. They travel to Spain to face Burgos, twice winners of the FIBA Champions League (2020 and 2021). The game is broadcast live on TV6. With two wins and two defeats, Zeļļi are above the Spanish side in the group standings.

The Spanish side

Burgos beat AEK Athens (85:74) and Turkey's Pinar Karsiyaka (64:59) in the Champions League finals, and also won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2021. In 2022 the club was relegated from Spain's top league, the ACB, and returned on its third attempt. Last spring it finished 13th among 18 teams with a 12-22 record. This season it started 2-3 in the ACB and is 12th.

In the EuroCup, Burgos beat Ljubljana's Cedevita Olimpija at home (85:81), then lost three times: at Aris in Thessaloniki (80:93), at home to Hapoel Jerusalem (84:85) and away at Tortona (79:89). Counting ACB games, it had five straight defeats before winning 99:81 in Manresa on Saturday.

Zeļļi's form

Zeļļi won at home against Tortona (86:84) and Cedevita Olimpija (89:79), and lost away in Rostock (86:87) and in Belgrade to Hapoel (64:100). In the Latvian league they have won all six games, including a 103:70 home win over Keila KK on Saturday.

The leading scorers on both teams are bench players. Lithuanian Martīns Varns averages 15.8 points and Tony Perkins 15.0. Among starters, Tyler Vols leads with 13.8 points and 6.0 rebounds. For Burgos, DJ Stewart averages 17.5 points and center Sekou Doumbouya 13.8 points and 6.0 rebounds. Doumbouya was drafted 15th overall and has played 96 NBA games.

Burgos are without 2023 NBA champion Vlatko Čančar, who tore a meniscus in September. Zeļļi no longer have Isaac Johnson because of injury; American center Ordie Oguama has replaced him.