Vanoli Basket Cremona, after the defeat in Reggio Emilia, hosts Openjobmetis Varese in the Lombard derby, which comes from the defeat against Bologna in the championship and the success against Chemnitz in the FIBA Europe Cup.
Where to see it: Sunday 28 January 2024 at 7.30pm, DAZN
Referees: Carmelo Paternicò, Andrea Bongiorni, Martino Galasso
PREVIOUS
This is the 30th match between the two teams, all played in the regular season except two Super Cup matches and one Italian Cup match.
The score is 17-12 in favor of Varese, who however have only won four times in Cremona out of 14 matches played.
The last victory of the red and whites at the home of the white and blues dates back to 11/18/2018: Vanoli Cremona – Openjobmetis Varese 79-82.
THE GONE
In the first leg match, played on 3 December 2023 during the 10th day, Vanoli won 68-75, driven by 15 points from McCullough and 13 points each from Denegri and Eboua.
This match is the only precedent between the two coaches Demis Cavina and Tom Bialaszewski.
THE ABSENT
Openjobmetis Varese – Leonardo Okeke is recovering from a posterior dislocation of his right hip.
THE STATEMENTS
Demis Cavina, coach Vanoli Basket Cremona: “We are on the eve of a very important match for all these initiatives but above all because we return home and we want to find our fans again, we want to play again, we have a lot of energy to do it and we do it in the derby, a young derby among the Lombard ones but However, it is always a derby that will bring many guests to PalaRadi. We face a challenging team from a technical-tactical point of view because it has different characteristics from many others. It is a team that has restructured itself compared to the first leg by inserting 2 very high quality players – Spencer the big man and Mannion as guard and play-guard – 2 players who changed Varese’s rating. All our energy and all our desire will have to end up on the pitch because we will need it when facing a team that has important offensive characteristics, which certainly has the ability to run like few others and we should be very good at managing the match. Above all, we will have to continue to grow in what in my opinion is the most important aspect between now and the end of the championship, especially now that the matches have a different specific weight, which is the defensive part. I think that it is precisely on the defense that we must concentrate and keep our attention high, even during the week, precisely because it is the most important half of the pitch in my opinion between now and the end of the season to find continuity even in difficult moments, as has also happened in Reggio Emilia last Sunday. If we cling to the defense, if we focus on the defense to change our game or to keep the score, I think it’s the simplest thing to achieve the goal we’re setting ourselves.”
Skylar Spencer, centro Openjobmetis Varese: “In the last two weeks we have faced very high level teams, losing against Venezia and Virtus Bologna; we didn’t want these two defeats to affect us in any way, but rather it was our intention to get back on track showing the improvements we had shown in the previous challenges. We managed to do this in the FIBA Europe Cup against Chemnitz, obtaining a very important success which once again testifies to our good moment. On Sunday we face Cremona in what is a very important match for us; It won’t be easy because we will be playing away from home and at this moment of the season every victory counts, so we will have to be concentrated, get on the pitch and try to achieve another success. Varese? I really like. From day one everyone showed me affection, making me feel part of this big family straight away. I’m sure it would have been the same even in the event of a bad moment, but fortunately things are going well now and so everything is great.”