Turk Telekom will aim to keep its Eurocup dreams alive on Tuesday when it hosts Spartak St. Petersburg in a must-win contest in Group E. The hosts come off back-to-back losses at Bizkaia Bilbao Basket that dropped their record to 1-3 and will see their chances of reaching the Last 16 vanish with a home loss. In fact, even with a 1-point win, Spartak would seal a Last 16 berth. That is due to head coach Zvi Sherf’s men’s 3-1 record and their Week 1 85-83 win over Telekom. This even a narrow loss for Spartak would give it a tiebreak advantage that could eliminate Telekom. Spartak has won its last two games by double figures over Spirou Charleroi led by the duo of James White and Milovan Rakovic. Spartak guard Levance Fields had 13 points, 8 assists and 3 steals – all season highs – to lead his team to victory on opening night and he will try to duplicate that performance and outcome in Turkey. Looking to stop him is Telekom point guard Demond Mallett, who has averaged just 3 points per game at home thus far compared to 18.5 on the road. Joining Mallet at guard are Tutku Acik and Sekan Erdogan in addition to swingman Andre Owens. The hosts are deep in the paint with Huseyin Besok, Erwin Dudley and Kris Lang, while Lamayne Wilson provides scoring punch at forward. Spartak counters with Fields, veteran Zakhar Pashutin and Aleksey Zozulin in the backcourt, White on the wings, Yahor Meshcharakou at forward and Rakovic and Goran Suton in the middle. Telekom leads the Eurocup in three-point shooting at 48.2%, but is the second worst rebounding team with just 26.3 per game. That is something Dudley and Besok must improve on to give the hosts hope. Two matchups that could determine the outcome are at point guard between Mallett and Fields and in the paint between Besok and Rakovic. If either team can decisively control these positions, it will become the favorite to win.
REFEREES: Fabio Facchini, Seffi Shemmesh, Marcin Kowalski