FIBA Basketball

    Regular Season by the numbers

    The Regular Season might now feel like a million light years away, but there were a lot of important facts and figures that emerged through the first 224 games which we should take on board before we turn

    MIES (Switzerland) - The Regular Season might now feel like a million light years away, but there were a lot of important facts and figures that emerged through the first 224 games which we should take on board before we turn our attention to the Play-Offs.

    The 2019-20 Regular Season, which tipped off on October 15th and concluded on February 5th, ultimately produced a Round of 16 which sees eleven different countries represented, more than in any previous year in the Basketball Champions League. Let's have a look back on some key facts to see how this came about.

    TEAM RECORDS

    The average combined score was 160 points per game, a new Regular Season record. This compares with a combined total of 149 points per game in the 2016-17 season, 156 points per game in 2017-18 and 159 points per game in 2018-19.

    Home teams won 65 percent of games in this Regular Season, the highest percentage in BCL history.

    JDA Dijon came up with a league-high 154 steals and topped the Regular Season in steals for a second consecutive year. The French side had a total of 135 steals in the 2018-19 Regular Season.

    The San Pablo Burgos bench averaged a league-high 42.3 points per game. Burgos also led the Regular Season in made three-pointers, with 159 threes.

    BAXI Manresa were the best perimeter defenders and gave up 89 three-pointers in total, though 14 games. They were also the only team to never give up more than 10 triples in any of their 14 games.

    Happy Casa Brindisi found themselves on the receiving end of a league-low (best) 15 blocked shots.

    Dinamo Sassari and Filou Oostende players led the league in double-doubles, with eight. By contrast, no Brose Bamberg or Telekom Baskets Bonn player posted a double-double this season. There were a total of 23 double-doubles in points and assists in this Regular Season, more than in any of the previous three years: there were 18 such double-doubles in 2016-17, 17 in 2017-18 and 16 in 2018-19.

    The Gameday 3 clash between Polski Cukier Torun and UNET Holon set a new record for the highest-scoring game in BCL history, without even going to overtime. The two teams combined for 227 points, as Holon won 122-105. Holon’s 122 points is also a new BCL record for most points scored by a team in a single game.

    Besiktas Sompo Sigorta, who scored 47 points in their Gameday 14 loss at JDA Dijon, and Falco Szombathely, who scored 49 points against Besiktas on Gameday 5, were the only teams to score fewer than 50 points in a single game in this Regular Season.

    Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem were the only team to win all seven of their home games and they scored a league-high 1,254 points in total. The Israeli team became the first in competition history to finish the Regular Season on a field goal percentage higher than 50 percent (50.2 percent) and a free-throw shooting percentage of at least 80 percent (83.9 percent).

    Hapoel blocked a total of 61 shots through their 14 games, setting a new competition record for most blocks in the Regular Season.

    Iberostar Tenerife gave up a total of 973 points through 14 games, as the only team to give up fewer than 1,000 points. It is the third consecutive year the Spanish team finish the Regular Season with the best defense (in absolute figures).

    Tenerife were also the only team to not lose any game by more than five points. The Spanish team won four games by a margin of 20+ points, more than any other team.

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    MARCELINHO MAGIC

    Marcelinho Huertas of Tenerife set a new all-time BCL Regular Season record by dishing a total of 115 assists. Aaron Johnson had 105 assists in the 2018-19 Regular Season, Omar Cook 102 assists in 2017-18 and Jordan Theodore had 101 assists in 2016-17 as the only other players to have 100 or more assists in a single BCL Regular Season.

    Huertas dished out 17 assists in his team's win over Gaziantep on Gameday 12, a joint-high for most assists in a single game. Scottie Reynolds is the only other player to have 17 assists in a single BCL game, in January 2017.

    Huertas also became the first player in competition history to dish 10 or more assists in five different Regular Season games.

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    WRIGHT ON TIME

    Torun's Chris Wright was the Regular Season's top scorer in absolute figures, with 261 points in total. (Justin Dentmon led the league in scoring with 20.9 points per game). The Torun guard fell just one point short of the 2018-19 Regular Season top scorer, Vince Hunter, who had 262 points last year. Kevin Punter had 295 points in the 2017-18 Regular Season and Nick Minnerath scored 268 points in 2016-17.

    Wright became the first player in BCL history to post four double-doubles in points and assists in the Regular Season. He is also the first player to register at least 20 points and 10 assists in multiple Regular Season games in the same year (he did it twice).

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    THOMAS CAN'T MISS

    TaShawn Thomas of Hapoel shot 74 percent from the floor and set a new all-time BCL record for the highest field goal percentage in the Regular season (among players who featured in at least seven Regular Season games). Thomas scored 176 points in the paint, more than any other player this season.

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    FELDEINE'S HOT HAND

    Thomas's teammate James Feldeine led the league in made threes this Regular Season, as he hit 43 triples. Feldeine fell one trey short from tying the all-time record for most made Regular Season three-pointers. The record belongs to James Baron and Jamal Shuler, with 44 threes in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 Regular Season, respectively. Feldeine did however establish the longest streak for made free-throws this season, as he converted his last 30 attempts from the foul line.

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    TERRY AND THOMPSON ON THE GLASS

    Bandirma's Emanuel Terry finished as the Regular Season's top rebounder in absolute numbers, with 139 boards in total (Shevon Thompson averaged a league-high 10.1 rebounds per game, but had 131 rebounds in total). Terry's is the second-highest Regular Season rebound tally in competition history behind Keith Clanton, who totaled 154 boards in 2016-17.

    Thompson and Terry posted six double-doubles each and reached second place in BCL history for most Regular Season double-doubles. Babacar Toure of Fribourg Olympic still holds the record with seven double-doubles in the 2018-19 Regular Season.

    Thompson became the second player to average a Regular Season double-double, with 13.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Toure averaged 15.0 points and 10.1 rebounds last season.

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    HANKINS SAYS NO

    Zach Hankins of Nymburk led the league in blocks with 32, becoming only the third player in BCL history to block 30 or more shots in the Regular Season. Norvel Pelle had 35 blocks and Ovidijus Galdikas had 33 in the 2016-17 Regular Season. Hankins in fact blocked more shots on his own than 15 teams in this Regular Season.

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    DUDZINSKI'S BOARD

    Dave Dudzinski of Telenet Giants Antwerp set a new record for most rebounds in a BCL game by corralling 22 boards in his team's loss to Anwil on Gameday 5. Dudzinski is indeed the only player ever to collect 20 or more rebounds in a BCL game.

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    TEAM SPIRIT

    Dinamo Sassari used only six different players in their starting lineups, with Dyshawn Pierre, Marco Spissu, Michele Vitali and Miro Bilan starting all 14 games.

    Meanwhile Teksut Bandirma (Kalinoski, Hazer, Smith, Hummer, Terry) and Filou Oostende (Thompson, Mwema, Djordjevic, Angola, Sylla) used the same starting five in 12 games, more than any other team.

    Tenerife were the only team to use a different starting five in all 14 games.

    AEK, BAXI Manresa and Mornar Bar had the most pluralistic offenses of the Regular Season, as each of them had 17 different players scoring at least once. By contrast, only 10 Falco Szombathely players scored a basket in this Regular Season.

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    TEAM STREAK

    This was the first year to feature only one team with 12 or more Regular Season wins. (ERA Nymburk, who topped Group C on a 12-2 record). There were two teams with 12 or more wins in the 2016-17 Regular Season, three teams in 2017-18 and four teams in 2018-19.

    By contrast, VEF Riga set the longest losing streak in BCL history as they lost 13 in a row after winning their season opener. The Latvian side were also the only team to score less than a thousand points in this Regular Season, as they scored a total 997 points in their 14 games.

    Anwil Wloclawek and Holon each lost four games despite leading at halftime. By contrast, Lietkabelis won four games despite trailing at halftime.

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    DEFENSIVE WOES

    Torun gave up 120 or more points not only in the record-setting game against Holon we mentioned earlier, but also in their Gameday 8 clash with BAXI Manresa. No other team has ever given up 120 points in a BCL game.

    Torun gave up a total of 1,345 points, becoming the first team in BCL history to concede 1300+ points in the Regular Season; However, they also made set a new all-time record for most made two-pointers in the Regular Season, with 356 converted shots from within the arc.

    Anwil Wloclawek and Torun were the only teams this season to score 100 or more points in three games. However, they were also on the receiving end of more centuries than any other team. Torun gave up 100 or more points in five game, while Anwil gave up a century in three games.

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