The Endesa League is back. Unicaja kicks off the competition this Saturday, September 28 at the Martín Carpena against Bàsquet Girona (6:00 p.m., broadcast by Movistar Deportes 3 -channel 65- and ⇒Unicaja Basketball Radio). It will be the team’s reunion with its fans after having been crowned champions of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup and the Endesa Super Cup in one week, so the atmosphere will be very festive and full of emotion.
The team returned to training on Thursday after three days of rest after having won two consecutive titles at the start of the season and which will lead to the unfurling of commemorative banners for both trophies before the match.
The match will not be an easy task, as the emotional nature of the encounter will have to be added to the difficulty of the opponent. Bàsquet Girona, led from the bench by the former Unicaja coach Fotis Katsikaris, will try to score the first victory in the history of the Catalan club against the Malaga team. So far, in the four occasions that they have faced each other, the victory has fallen on the side of Ibon Navarro’s team, the last precedent being the home game that was decided by 111 to 80 last season.
⇒ALL PRECEDENTS
The Catalan team has a very renewed squad compared to the previous season, with only five players returning: point guard Ike Iroegbu, shooting guard Maxi Fjellerup, small forward Mindaugas Susinskas, power forward Yves Pons and center Jaume Sorolla. Iroegbu will once again be the main offensive beacon for the Girona team after averaging 15.3 points and 3.2 assists last season, being able to score 27 and 20 points against Unicaja in the two games played in 2023-24.
The new additions to the young Catalan squad this season are point guards Juani Marcos (from Barça), Guillem Ferrando (Valencia Basket) and Aljami Durham (Veolla Towers Hamburg); shooting guard Nike Sibande (Merkezefendi); small forward Sergi Martínez (Barça); and tall centres James Nnaji (Barça), Juan Fernández (Río Breogán) and Francisco Cáffaro (Movistar Estudiantes).
Bàsquet Girona arrive after having played a total of six pre-season matches, with a record of three wins and three losses, having beaten the Chinese Zheijiang Lions (75-51), Barça (72-64) and the German Ratiopharm Ulm (94-85). On the other hand, they lost to BAXI Manresa (68-100), MoraBanc Andorra (61-84) and Barça in the last match they played before the start of the season (79-83).
Unicaja will face Bàsquet Girona this Saturday, September 28 at the Martín Carpena starting at 6:00 p.m. The match, corresponding to Matchday 1 of the Endesa League, will be broadcast by Movistar Deportes 3 -channel 65- and ⇒Unicaja Basketball Radio.
2024-09-26 12:37:40