Can Split use home-court advantage to stun top-placed Crvena zvezda mts?
The new year in AdmiralBet ABA League will start with a true basketball spectacle as Split are about to host Crvena zvezda mts on Sunday evening.
Split team (Photo: Split/Ivica Cavka)
AdmiralBet ABA League Round 14, Sunday, 2 January 2022:
Where? Split Sports Hall, Split
When? 19:00
Story of the game: The new year in AdmiralBet ABA League will start with a true basketball spectacle as Split are about to host Crvena zvezda mts on Sunday evening.
The current standings puts the visitors in role of clear favorites as Crvena zvezda mts have finished the 1st part of the season all alone at the top of the table with the overall score of 12-1, while on the other side Split are the last placed team in the league with the score of 2-11.
However, none of that matters when these two old rivals face each other. Split will try to use the home-court advantage and the help from their passionate fans to stun the reigning champions. And, according to some reports they might have full house for the 1st time this season.
Still, it must be mentioned that Split haven’t defeated Crvena zvezda mts since returning to the top flight of the regional basketball as the Yellow troops lost all the previous 3 games. Split have scored their last win against Crvena zvezda mts in September 2012.
At the same time, the Belgrade troops will try to extend that unbeaten run in the games against their old rivals. Crvena zvezda mts have recently remained all alone at the top of the table and their plan is to stay there until the end of the regular season. In order to do that, they will need to keep winning, starting with the away game in Split.
Match-up in focus: Roko Leni Ukić has returned on court recently and he will once again lead the Split crew down on the court. Ukić has played 7 games so far in this season, while he has scored 10+ points in 5 out of those 7 games. On the other side, Nikola Ivanović is playing really well for Crvena zvezda mts in the ongoing AdmiralBet ABA League season, while last weekend he made one of his best performances so far as he led the red-and-whites toward the win over FMP Meridian with 18 points and overall index rating of 29.
Head-to-head score in the regional league: In total 2:15; In Split 2:6.
