Game of the Week preview: Can Galatasaray stay alive in the Round of 16?

ATHENS (Greece) - The Game of the Week in Round of 16 Week 5 is a crucial Group K matchup between AEK and Galatasaray Nef at Ano Liossia Olympic Hall. AEK will clinch qualificaton to the Quarter-Finals if they win, while Galatasaray would be eliminated with a loss AND an Unicaja win over Limoges CSP. Needless to say that both games in the group are of the utmost importance.

Since the calendar flipped over to 2023, AEK have been on a roll, winning 10 of their 14 games in all competitions including five out of six in the BCL (2-0 in Play-Ins and 3-1 in the Round of 16).

On the flip side, Galatasaray have gone in the opposite direction, winning just three out of 11 games in all competitions so far in 2023. They've gone 2-2 in the BCL Round of 16 in that time frame.

AEK have won seven of their last eight BCL games, including a 81-71 victory at Galatasaray's home court. The Greek team have allowed fewer than 75 points in each of their last three BCL games and if they repeat that feat on Wednesday they will tie their longest such streak in the competition, four games between November and December 2018. AEK's Janis Strelnieks has scored 10 or more points in six of his eight BCL games coming off the bench, including 18 in the reverse fixture against Galatasaray. The Latvian guard made multiple three-pointers in seven of his eight games off the bench. Galatasaray lost their most recent road game in the BCL (81-76 at Unicaja) but are yet to lose consecutive BCL games on the road in 2022-23. The Turkish team have scored 90+ points in two road games this season, a feat they had pulled off only once in their two previous BCL seasons combined. Galatasaray average 21.1 points per game in the fourth quarter, more than any other team in the last 10 minutes of the game in the BCL this season. The fourth quarter is the most productive in every sense for Galatasaray, as it's their highest-scoring quarter in this season's BCL. Angelo Caloiaro has scored 10+ points in each of his last five games in the BCL, his longest streak in the competition. He went scoreless in only one of his 28 games in the BCL, but it was precisely against AEK back in January 2018, when he was playing for Banvit Bandirma.

[/unordered]

Team comparison by the numbers:

AEK	Stat Category	Galatasaray
52.3	2-point FG %	50.6
36.3	3-point FG %	36.1
45.3	Overall FG %	43.5
72.4	Free throw %	75.6
25.3	Defensive rebounds	25.5
9.7	Offensive rebounds	11.4
35.0	Total rebounds	36.9
7.6	Steals	7.2
19.4	Assists	19.2
14.5	Turnovers	9.7
1.9	Blocks	1.8
17.1	Points from Turnover	15.0
29.8	Points in the Paint	30.8
24.7	Points from the Bench	33.9