Trap match in Galicia. Unicaja moves to the north of Spain to face Leyma Coruña for the first time this Saturday, starting at 7:00 p.m. (broadcast on Movistar Deportes 4 -dial 191- and ⇒Unicaja Basketball Radiolive from Le Grand Café Centro). It will be the first time that both teams face each other in their history, since the Galician team makes its debut this year in the Endesa League after finishing as leader of the LEB Oro last season.
It will be the fifth time that we face a team from Galicia. Before, Unicaja already faced the following Galician rivals, OAR Ferrol, Breogán de Lugo, Club Ourense Baloncesto and Obradoiro. This weekend the people of Malaga will play an official match in La Coruña for the first time.
Leyma Coruña, after starring in a resounding victory on the first day against Real Madrid after a triple on the horn by Yunio Barrueta (86-85), fell in the following two days of the Endesa League. Both matches were away, on the courts of Dreamland Gran Canaria (80-72) and MoraBanc Andorra (112-87). Results that place it in 15th position in the Endesa League classification.
The people of A Coruña hope to return to the path of victory in front of their fans, who already demonstrated on the first day the enthusiasm they have for their team. With 9,300 spectators against Real Madrid, they are currently the 4th venue with the best attendance in the Endesa League. For the match against Unicaja, the response from the A Coruña fans is also being extraordinary, with less than 700 tickets on sale today, so the Coliseum of La Coruña will be close to full.
As for the Leyma Coruña squad, led by Diego Epifanio, many of its players have experience. In addition, he maintains the core of the team that led him to promotion the previous season, with only five new additions: point guard Brandon Taylor (formerly of BAXI Manresa), guard Phil Scrubb (formerly Movistar Estudiantes and Monbus Obradoiro), forward LJ Figueroa , power forward Trey Thompkins (formerly of Real Madrid) and former Unicaja center Augusto Lima. It will be the first time we face the center who emerged from the Los Guindos quarry after his departure from the team this past summer.
Solid numbers
The people of A Coruña present some interesting numbers at the beginning of the course. The Galician team is second in the Endesa League in assists (20), triples scored (11.33 per game) and offensive rebounds (15.67). He ranks third in total rebounds (39) and has the fifth best free throw percentage in the league (79.99%).
In terms of players, American point guard Brandon Taylor is Leyma Coruña’s main threat, averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 assists (2nd in the league) and 2 rebounds for a rating of 18.7. He is complemented in direction by the Latvian Ingus Jakovics (11.7 points, 3 assists, 10.3 efficiency).
On the wings, Yunio Barrueta (12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds), LJ Figueroa (9 points, 4.5 rebounds), Aleix Font (7 points) and Phil Scrubb (3.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists) complete the A Coruña outside rotation.
In the zone, Beqa Burjanadze (11 points, 5.3 rebounds, 10.3 efficiency), Goran Huskic (6.3 points, 2 rebounds, 1.7 assists) and Trey Thompkins (3 points, 2 rebounds) provide versatility to the team, while Augusto Lima (5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists) and Atoumane Diagne (4.3 points, 3.7 rebounds) add physical presence and rebounding and intimidating power.
Reunions
In addition to Augusto Lima’s reunion with Unicaja, it will be a special match for two players from the Malaga team who are returning home: Jonathan Barreiro and Tyson Pérez. The Galician forward, native of Cerceda, and the Dominican power forward, raised in Betanzos, will compete in the clash in the province of La Coruña, where their roots are from.
Ephemeris
David Kravish and Melvin Ejim will be ‘centenarians’ in the Endesa League. Both players are one game away from reaching 100 games played in the Endesa League, all of them at Unicaja in the case of Ejim. Kravish, for his part, has played 79 games with the team from Malaga and the remaining 20 with BAXI Manresa, his first team in Spain.
Unicaja will face Leyma Coruña this Saturday, October 19, starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Coliseum A Coruña. The match, corresponding to Matchday 4 of the Endesa League, will be broadcast by Movistar Deportes 4 -dial 191- and ⇒Unicaja Basketball Radiolive from Le Grand Café Centro.
