Sarunas Jasikevicius thinks ASVEL's defense can be a problem for Barcelona as the two teams prepare for battle.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne are ranked very low in the EuroLeague standings (3-8).
FC Barcelona / Schedule
FC Barcelona
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
AS MonacoThey have also dropped their last five games in the competition whilst being unable to put together good performances in most of them.
However, there's one aspect where the French champs really stand out. It's their defensive efficiency.
ASVEL concede 77.9 points per game, which is good enough for 6th-best among all teams. They also concede only 1.09 points per possession, occupying third place in that department.
Ironically, ASVEL also top the EuroLeague in turnover percentage, wasting no less than 21.1% of their offensive efforts. On the other hand, their opponents turn the ball over 14.6 times per game and give up on 20.5% of their possessions.
So, it's no wonder that FC Barcelona coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, warned of the French visit, pointing out that, despite their ranking, they have "the best defense" in the competition.
For this reason, the Lithuanian coach believes that this Friday's game "will not be very nice" since ASVEL "is a team that always competes."
"There are the veterans of a lifetime, as is the case with (Nando) De Colo, and then you have two guys who put on a fight and give a lot of personality to this team like (David) Lighty and (Charles) Kahudi," he said.
In addition, Jasikevicius believes that ASVEL have some "very interesting young players who can leap important teams in the coming years."
Adding to the already known absence of Sergi Martínez, Alex Abrines and Cory Higgins will also be missing, both due to low-back pain, but the Lithuanian coach will recover Sertac Sanli and Nikola Kalinic.
Oscar da Silva did not train Wednesday due to a flu process, but the Barca coach believes that his squad must overcome "viruses and injuries" by putting together a good performance.
"We have to think about how we should improve our defense and our ups and downs because after losing the last game (against Monbus Obradoiro in the Spanish league), we have to win."
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