The best of the best, the world’s choice. Fenerbahce basketball players play in Prague
“Fenerbahce is clearly the most attractive opponent that will come to Královka in the regular part of the Euroleague. Spectators have a chance to see world basketball stars,” coach Natália Hejková told ČTK.
Thanks to the last win in Polkowice (92:57), the women from Prague moved to second place in the table with 19 points. Fenerbahce has one more point in the lead.
“It will be a completely different game than a week ago. We so-called soapy Polkowice, but Fenerbahce is in full force. It’s like a small Yekaterinburg,” Hejková compared the strength of the opponent with the six-time winner of the competition, which, like other Russian teams, was expelled due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
But the victory over Polkowice encouraged the Prague women. With a better head-to-head score, USK can stay ahead of their Polish opponent in the event of a tie. “It was a return to the old wave and I would even say that we were still so good at recommending,” said Hejková.
The first mutual duel in December was won by Fenerbahce, which succeeded in front of the home fans after extra time 82:72. The Turkish team also eliminated Prague in seven of last year’s Final Four. After a weak start to the competition, you can get a tenth victory in a row and confirm the ambition of the overall title, which has never been won before.
Fenerbahce is also the most productive team in the Euroleague with an average of 86.6 points per game, and seven of its players average ten or more points. American Breanna Stewart (20) dominates the statistics ahead of Natasha Howard (17.3), Emma Meesseman (16.6) and Kayla McBride (16.1).
“It will be difficult to play against them. It is a team that has many personalities and can handle all tactical options. It’s such a small selection of the world,” said Hejková.
On the other hand, in USK, there is a question mark over the start of the third best scorer in the competition, Thomas, who missed the last training sessions due to illness. “We’ll see how serious it will be in the end. Some players had to miss matches earlier because of these viruses,” added Hejková.
The match will start at 19:00.