Leicester Riders are ready to take on Surrey 89ers over two legs in the Super League Basketball Cup Semi-Final.
The first leg takes place in Surrey on February 7- a crucial tie for the outcome of this matchup.
Here’s all you need to know ahead of the biggest games of the Riders’ season thus far…
Fixture information
Surrey 89ers vs Leicester Riders
SLB Cup Semi-Final First Leg
Friday, February 7, 7:30 pm
Surrey Sports Park
First Leg importance
Leicester Riders have gotten the better of the 89ers so far this season, going undefeated through their four games against each other.
READ MORE: Season series so far: Leicester Riders vs Surrey 89ers
They will therefore bring confidence into this pivotal first game, having learned lessons from their Trophy Semi-Final against Newcastle Eagles in December.
The Riders got down big in the first half of the first leg, and therefore trailed going back to Leicester for the second. They put up a fight wire-to-wire, but the poor run in the first leg was too much to overcome, and the Riders’ Trophy journey ended there.
Riley Abercrombie, previewing the Semi-Final midweek, emphasised the importance of the First Leg: “We really focused this week on having a good start to Friday’s game. Having experienced this aggregate scoring game before, we know how important the First Leg can be.
“Getting down big to Newcastle really hurt us in the Second Leg, so making sure we go down to Surrey, put in a good performance and put ourselves in a position to come back to Leicester on Sunday and have a great game.”
Recent form
The Riders enter this game with momentum behind them, putting on one of the most impressive performances of the season against Bristol Flyers last week.
They won 94-59, leading wire-to-wire behind Zach Jackson’s 20 points. The bench performed exceptionally, scoring 33, led by Duke Shelton’s Player of the Game performance which saw him log 15 points and 13 rebounds.
That’s back-to-back impressive bench efforts for the Riders. They scored 22 in the Cup Quarter-Final against Manchester Basketball which earned them this matchup with Surrey- Ethan Wright leading them with 12.
Meanwhile Surrey bounced back from a three game slide in their previous fixture. They’ve been duelling out closely fought games all season long, and emerged 77-68 victors on the road to Caledonia Gladiators on February 2.
Talented wing Mervin James led the team with 17 points off 11 shots to improve the Niners to 5-10 on the year.
Key matchup
Big men Charles Thompson and Dame Adelekun have enjoyed battles down low in each of the matchups between these teams this season.
Thompson, the front runner for the SLB Defensive Player of the Year award at the midpoint of the season, has been his typically impressive self against Surrey in each of the four games. He’s averaged 11.5 points and 1.75 blocks, and thrown down some of his most explosive jams in Surrey Sports Park.
In his last trip to Surrey, Thompson put up 18 points and 4 blocks, finding no answer from the Niners on both ends of the floor. He leads the League in blocks per game with 2.9, and is second in rebounds with 8.8 per game.
The League leader in rebounds is his opposite number in this matchup, Adelekun, who is averaging 12.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Adelekun also had 18 points in his last game against Leicester, and has stuffed the stat sheet for Surrey this year.
He put up double digit rebounds for five straight league games to start the New Year, including a 26 and 16 effort against Manchester January 24.
With his monster rebounding games and ability to create second chance points for his team consistently, Adelekun is a constant threat on any given night.
Where to watch
This game will be shown live on DAZN. You can watch it here!
The Second Leg of this Semi-Final matchup will be played in Leicester on Sunday. You can get tickets here!
