Panellinios hosts SLUC Nancy in an important Group G battle with major implications on the Last 16 hunt. The winner of this game advances to the Last 16, while the loser must run to the nearest television to see the outcome of the PGE Tuow-Gran Canaria game, needing Granca to lose to have a chance of advancing. Both Panellinios and Nancy enter Week 6 with 3-2 records. For Panellinios, the situation is simple: Beat Nancy and win Group G. Lose to Nancy and Gran Canaria loses, finish second. Lose to Nancy and Granca wins, finish third. For Nancy, the math is more complicated. To win the group, it must beat Panellinios and have Gran Canaria lose or have its margin of victory be at least 10 points more than Granca’s margin of victory. Nancy finishes second if it wins and so does Gran Canaria, but the margin of victory for Nancy is not at least 10 greater than Granca’s or if Nancy loses, Gran Canaria loses and Nancy’s margin of defeat is 10 points or less than Gran Canaria’s margin of defeat. The mathematical equations that could decide their fates will not trouble the players on the floor, who will be focused on one thing – Victory. Devin Smith scored 21 and Rod Blakney dished 7 assists to lead Panellinios to a 72-81 road win at Nancy when they met last month. Head coach Elias Zouros will hope for similar production this time from his backcourt, which also features Manolis Papamakarios, Kostas Charalampidis and Georgios Kalaitzis. Nancy counters with Steed Tchicamboud, Jeff Greer and John Cox. Nancy’s star is small forward Ricardo Greer, who could match up with Smith in a crucial duel. Panellinios power forward Britton Johnsen, who played alongside Ricardo Greer for Pau-Orthez in the Euroleague in the 2006-07 season, could have some advice for his teammates to stop the Nancy leader. Meanwhile the visitors boast a deep and aggressive frontcourt with shot-blocker extraordinaires Akin Akinbala and Marcus Slaughter joining forces with mobile power forward Stephen Brun. Johnsen joins Ian Vougiouskas. Panellinios has a significant depth advantage with 10 regulars who play at least 13 minutes per game. Nancy is a more athletic team and one of the best in the competition on the offensive glass. That could be a major factor down the stretch, seeing if Nancy will still be fresh and active in the fourth quarter of a close game.
REFEREES: Juan Carlos Mitjana, Antonio Conde, Miroslav Tomov