CLUJ-NAPOCA (FIBA Europe Cup) - U-BT Cluj-Napoca will be looking to get their FIBA Europe Cup campaign off to a positive start in what promises to be a challenging season-opening fixture against Istanbul BBSK.

In spite of a tough opponent, the team's 32-year-old head coach Mihai Silvasan was optimistic about the Romanian side's chances of getting a win at the Horia Demian Sports Hall in Cluj-Napoca on Wednesday.

"We really want to start with a win. This must be our mentality and we will do everything to get it done."Mihai SilvasanMihai Silvasan

"This is an important game for us, it's our season debut in the FIBA Europe Cup and we want to be on point," said Silvasan, the up-and-coming strategist of the Romanian side which he captained himself not too long ago.

"We will play against a strong team, a Play-Off caliber club in the Turkish championship with national team players from around Europe. But we really want to start with a win. This must be our mentality and we will do everything to get it done."

Unlike U-BT Cluj-Napoca, who qualified via the Basketball Champions League, Istanbul BBSK had to go through the FIBA Europe Cup Qualification Rounds, defeating s.Oliver Wuerzburg and Khimk Yuzhne along the way.

The Turkish team has as much star power as any other team in the competition with the likes of Stefan Bircevic, Ivan Buva, Jaka Klobucar, Deividas Dulkys, Ilkan Karaman and American players Michael Thompson and Eric Buckner.

"We have seen five games of our opponents and they are playing well. They have players of unquestionable value – Croatian and Serbian national team players from FIBA EuroBasket 2017, a former member of the Slovenian national team. It is a team with important names in European basketball," said Silvasan, listing the plethora of threats on the opposing side.

"But it does not frighten us. On the contrary, it motivates us, we want this victory a lot and I think we have good chances to succeed."

The words of the coach echoed in one of the club's main summer additions Zeljko Sakic. The 29-year-old big man, who represented Croatia at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro himself, acknowledged the tough task in front of them, but also remained optimistic.

"We are going to be playing against a very good team, which brought together very good players this year, but we know what our goals are. We have an important test ahead of us and I hope the fans will come in big numbers and lead us to victory," said Sakic, who starred in the Basketball Champions League last year, averaging 14.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for Cibona.

Having reached the Second Round in the FIBA Europe Cup last year, U-BT Cluj-Napoca will not settle for anything less this year, targeting one of the two spots in Group E.

"Our goal is to qualify from this group. At first glance, I think the Turkish team stands out as the main favorite, but Lukoil Academic are the Bulgarian champions and they have good players on their roster. They will also be a tough nut to crack," noted the coach. 

"Dinamo Tbilisi would seem to be the weakest team in our group, but they should not be underestimated. We have to do everything step-by-step, and take things one game at a time and one practice at a time and we will see what will happen."

The game between U-BT Cluj-Napoca and Istanbul BBSK will tip-off at 18:00 CET and will be free to watch live and on demand on YouTube.com/FIBA like all other Regular Season games.

U-BT Cluj-Napoca v Istanbul BBSK

FIBA