A full capacity Fonteta as sixth man against an on-fire Barça

Valencia Basket returns to competition after the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers and does so to host one of the most on-fire teams on the continent, Barça (Saturday 5, 6:00 p.m., Fonteta, Movistar Deportes) in a Endesa League round 18 game that was to have been played on January 16 and that was postponed due to the positives for COVID-19 that appeared in the taronja squad.

 

This game will mean the reunion of our men’s team with its fans almost a month after the win against Virtus Segafredo Bologna. The taronja squad will try to break a bad dynamic against this rival, against whom they have chained five defeats in a row and more than four years without beating them at home.

 

For this, our boys will have a Fonteta that will be at 100% capacity a little more than two years later, since full access to the gym was not allowed from March 1, 2020. A taronja victory would balance the history of Regular Season clashes between these two teams in what will be the third time that these two teams face each other this season, with the Taronja squad winning in the first leg game and Barça winning in the semifinal of the Endesa Super Cup.

 

For this game, long-term injured player Sam Van Rossom will be sidelined and point guard Martin Hermannsson is a doubtful due to some discomfort in his right calf that already prevented him from playing the second game of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers with Iceland. Valencia Basket currently occupies fourth position in the Endesa League with 12-7 in the standings.

 

Rosters

VALENCIA BASKET

Nº

Nombre

Nacimiento

Posición

Alt.

0

Neno Dimitrijevic

Macedonia del N.

Base

1.90

1

Víctor Claver

España

Alero

2.08

2

Josep Puerto

España

Alero

1.99

3

Klemen Prepelic

Eslovenia

Escolta

1.91

4

Jaime Pradilla

España

Ala-pívot

2.05

6

Xabi López-Arostegui

España

Alero

2.00

8

Guillem Ferrando

España

Base

1.84

10

Mike Tobey

EE.UU

Pívot

2.13

14

Bojan Dubljevic

Montenegro

Pívot

2.05

16

Millán Jiménez

España

Alero

1.99

24

Martin Hermannsson

Islandia

Base

1.90

41

Jasiel Rivero

Cuba

Ala-pívot

2.06

99

Louis Labeyrie

Francia

Ala-pívot

2.08

 

Sidelined

 

 

 

9

Sam Van Rossom

Bélgica

Base

1.88

Joan Peñarroya

Entrenador

 

FC BARCELONA

Nº

Nombre

Nacimiento

Posición

Alt.

0

Brandon Davies

EE.UU/Uganda

Pívot

2.08

1

Dante Exum

Australia

Escolta

1.98

5

Sertaç Sanli

Turquía

Pívot

2.13

8

Sergi Martínez

España

Alero

2.02

10

Rolands Smits

Letonia

Alero

2.07

14

Nigel Hayes

EE.UU

Alero

2.03

18

Pierre Oriola

España

Ala-pívot

2.06

20

Nico Laprovittola

Argentina/Italia

Base

1.90

21

Álex Abrines

España

Escolta

1.98

24

Kyle Kuric

EE.UU/SVQ

Escolta

1.93

31

Rokas Jokubaitis

Lituania

Base

1.93

33

Nikola Mirotic

Montenegro/Esp

Ala-pívot

2.08

99

Nick Calathes

Grecia

Base

1.96

 

Sarunas Jasikevicius

 

Entrenador

 

 

REFEREES: Antonio Conde - Jorge Martínez - Roberto Lucas