2020-21Regular SeasonRound 26
FC Barcelona 69
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 76
February 26, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA

ASVEL downs Barca in historical road win

In a physical battle that went down to the wire, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne kept its great momentum going in the the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by downing FC Barcelona 69-76 at Palau Blaugrana. ASVEL improved to 12-14 and is now on a six-game winning streak, its longest in the competition. Meanwhile, Barcelona dropped to 18-8 but still leads the standings. Norris Cole led the winners with 17 points. Moustapha Fall, David Lighty and William Howard each added 13 for ASVEL. Brandon Davies led Barcelona with 22 points off the bench. Nikola Mirotic added 19 for the hosts, who led 54-52 late in the third quarter. Cole and Howard stepped up in crunch time, as ASVEL got a 64-72 margin and managed to stay ahead until the final buzzer.

Mirotic got Barcelona going with a turnaround jumper that Cole bettered with a triple for a 2-3 ASVEL lead. Mirotic kept pacing the hosts with a put-back layup and a jumper but Howard and Fall kept their team ahead, 6-8. Lighty and Davies traded jumpers and Mirotic struck from downtown for an 11-10 Barcelona lead. Fall and Guerschon Yabusele each dunked and Amine Noua soon added a three-pointer to let ASVEL regain a 15-19 lead after 10 minutes. Davies kept pacing Barcelona early in the second quarter with 5 points in a 6-0 run that put his team ahead, 21-19. Ismael Bako rescued ASVEL with a three-point play and Lighty bettered Rolands Smits's put-back basket with a three-pointer, good for a 23-25 lead. Kuric struck twice from beyond the arc and Pierre Oriola dunked to make the guests call timeout at 31-28. Davies took over with a show-stopping slam but Fall kept ASVEL within 33-31. Yabusele and Cole got the guests even closer, 35-34, at halftime. Mirotic followed a corner three-pointer with a backdoor layup right after the break. Howard and Cole combined for all points in an 0-8 run that put ASVEL in charge, 40-42. Mirotic insisted from beyond the arc and added a layup, Davies hit a jump hook and Cory Higgins gave the hosts a 48-44 lead. Howard downed another triple and Lighty hit a jumper to keep the guests as close as 51-49. Bako took over with a power layup and Lighty matched Adam Hanga's triple with his own shot from downtown for a 54-54 tie after 30 minutes. Matthew Strazel and Lighty put ASVEL ahead, 54-58, early in the fourth quarter. Davies scored twice around the basket but Cole and Howard each sank a three-pointer for a 58-64 ASVEL edge with over 4 minutes left. Davies and Higgins stepped up for Barcelona but Fall followed a dunk with a three-point play to give the guests fresh air at 64-69. Cole buried a jumper and Lighty seemed to seal the outcome, 64-72. Higgins managed to bring Barcelona within 69-72 with 37.5 seconds left. Cole was ice cold from the foul line in crunch time, assuring ASVEL's historical win.

Pivotal performer

William Howard helped on the boards and opened the floor with his shots from downtown, being effective at both ends. He finished the game with 13 points on 3-of-5 three-pointers, adding 8 rebounds, an assist and 2 steal for a team-high PIR of 20.

Game-changing moment

Brandon Davies took over with an up-and-under layups that tied the game at 58-58. Norris Cole buried a three-pointer and William Howard copied him right after that, putting ASVEL ahead for good, 58-64. Moustapha Fall and Cole made sure ASVEL won the game down the stretch.

Stellar stat

ASVEL's hustle allowed it to get its fourth road victory of the season. It was seen in all hustle stats, as the French powerhouse finished the game with 9 offensive rebounds, 9 steals and 4 blocks.

Did you know?

ASVEL beat Barcelona on the road for the first time in almost a quarter of a century. ASVEL's last win at Palau Blaugrana, 78-81, came on October 16, 1996 behind 35 points from club legend Delaney Rudd. Both teams met again that season in the 1997 EuroLeague semifinals on April 24, 1997 and Barcelona prevailed this time, 77-70, with 17 points from Sasa Djordjevic.

Next game

These teams return to EuroLeague action early next week, on Tuesday, March 2. ASVEL visits Zalgiris Kaunas while Barcelona visits Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in a very special game for Calathes, who will face his former team for the first time. Calathes played eight seasons for Panathinaikos in two stints, winning the EuroLeague title in 2011.

Norris Cole - LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne - EB20
Friday, February 26, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; NIKOLIC, UROS; ROSSI, MICHELE
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona15201915
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne19152022
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona15355469
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne19345476
FC Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DAVIES, BRANDON 30:03 22 8/13   6/9 2 6 8 1 1 1     2 8 29
2 WESTERMANN, LEO 7:27 1     1/2   1 1     1     1 1  
8 HANGA, ADAM 13:17 3 0/1 1/4   1 1 2 2 1     1 2 1 2
9 BOLMARO, LEANDRO 2:16                              
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 17:52 2 1/3     2 4 6     3     3 1 1
14 PUSTOVYI, ARTEM 5:10                         2   -2
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 3:45 2 1/2       1 1           2    
21 ABRINES, ALEX 15:42   0/2 0/1           1 2     1 1 -4
22 HIGGINS, CORY 27:42 9 2/10   5/6 1 2 3 3 1     2 2 8 11
24 KURIC, KYLE 23:57 7 0/2 2/3 1/1   1 1 1 1 1     2 1 5
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 22:58 19 5/7 3/5   2 3 5 1 1 3     4   15
99 CALATHES, NICK 29:51 4 2/6   0/2   5 5 5 2 2   1 3 2 6
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 69 19/46 6/13 13/20 8 26 34 13 8 13 0 4 24 23 65
        41.3% 46.2% 65%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 16:58 2 0/1 0/1 2/2   2 2 1 1 1     3 2 2
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 2:42     0/1           1 1     2   -3
10 FALL, MOUSTAPHA 25:28 13 4/7   5/8 3 2 5 2 1 3 1   5 6 14
11 NDJOCK, ELWIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 NOUA, AMINE 12:50 3 0/2 1/1 0/2   1 1 1           1 2
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 14:10 5 2/3   1/2   3 3       1   2 2 7
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 28:57 13 3/9 2/4 1/3   3 3 3 4 3     3 5 12
25 HOWARD, WILLIAM 28:42 13 1/1 3/5 2/2 1 7 8 1 2 2 1   2 2 21
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 27:10 4 2/5 0/2   2 6 8 1   2 1   2 1 6
30 COLE, NORRIS 31:42 21 3/7 3/4 6/6 1 1 2 4   5     1 3 19
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 11:21 2 0/1   2/2   1 1 1         3 1 1
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 76 15/36 9/18 19/27 9 27 36 14 9 18 4 0 23 23 83
        41.7% 50% 70.4%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
FC Barcelona
"Congratulations to ASVEL and to T.J. (Parker). Disappointing evening for us, because we didn't play good basketball. In certain situations, we didn't act good and I think we paid the price. I think it was very important for our players to disconnect after the very tough schedule and we tried to give them time off. It is time for them to understand right now that they need to get back in the mix of things and play the basketball that we are capable of playing. They played a good game and were physical, just as we expected. I think that we have to understand that the Copa del Rey trophy is already in the museum. It is in the past. We have to go back and give our best, play with a lot of ambition and attention to details. Tonight, we lacked the ambition we had in the last few months. I am surprised that our bench was very quiet. I thought that after such a long time without playing, the guys would be excited to play and win a EuroLeague game, but it wasn't really like that. We have to give ASVEL a lot of credit, one of the most physical teams in Europe, with a lot of size in the 'three', 'four' and 'five' positions, and very competitive players like Lighty and Kahudi. We have to give them credit. If we analyze our last three EuroLeague games at home, we lost two, which is a bad result in such a demanding EuroLeague. We now have to go on the road and try to fix this. The EuroLeague is very tough, as you see, the different between first and fifth or sixth place is just a couple of games. We should understand this and move on."
PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"This is not an easy place to play. It is a great team and you cannot make mistake. I told them we have to hang in there, hang in there, hang in there, and in the fourth quarter, you never know what can happen. And this is exactly what happened. At halftime, we did a good job, down one, then tied the game (at the end of the third quarter) and after that we had a big fourth quarter. So, a huge win for us. The value of this win, I don't think many teams can say they beat Barcelona twice this year, and that is what we did. It is a huge thing for us, for our organization, for LDLC ASVEL. So, congratulations to the guys. They fought the whole game and this is huge for the team.”

Players

COLE, NORRIS
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We knew the game was going to be close, that it was going to come down to the last minutes. It is my job to make sure we close the games out the right way. Our team did a good job by fighting together, and we got a good team win. We executed the game plan. We limited their threes. They are a good three-point shooting team, so we tried to limit their threes. And then on offense, we executed and we took our time. And then on defense, we rebounded. Whenever they missed, we tried to get the rebound so that we could play good offense. I am just so happy about our guys. We believe in each other and are playing really well right now. We have to keep it going, one game at a time."
HOWARD, WILLIAM
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"We knew there were in first place. We knew it was going to be a tough game and I think we did the job tonight. The goal for us is trying to be in the top eight. We are on a good winning streak so we are trying to keep going and hopefully we can be in the top eight and make the playoffs."