The official website of Unicaja has reflected, in an exceptional job, that the purple-green team will play their 500th match in European competition against Telekom Bonn. If he beats this match, the final would be 501, which would always be appropriate for a black label team. For 30 years the name of Unicaja Málaga has been carried around the Old Continent, 28 of them without interruption. The Korac Cup, the Euroleague, the Eurocup and the Basketball Champions League (BCL), the 4 tournaments that the people of Malaga have played and in which those who have come to play their final phases. In addition, of those 499 matches, 248 took place in Malaga, with 170 victories.
Memories of the Korac
The Korac Cup was the first European tournament that the people of Malaga played, the first appearance being on September 27, 1989 against Trane Castors (Belgium).a), with a 75-80 defeat in Ciudad Jardín. That was the first step in a competition in which they played 64 games over 7 seasons, with 44 wins and 20 losses. The last match, precisely, was the one that crowned the team as champion of the competition against Hemofarm Vrsac (Serbia). The previous year he was a finalist against Limoges.
The second European competition that Unicaja played was the Euroleague. It was on September 28, 1995 when the team debuted in the competition, (then called the European League) with a 70-85 victory at home against Zrinjevac (Croatia). the next phase for the average against Ülker Genclik (Turkey), the people from Malaga returned to the competition in the 2001-02 season with a different format to the previous one. The team was there for 15 uninterrupted seasons, in which they reached the Top 16 14 consecutive times, to which they added one more participation in the 2017-18 season. 333 games played, with 161 wins and 172 losses.
Remembered Eurocup
The Eurocup has been the third competition that the people of Malaga have playeds, with 73 games played for 44 wins and 29 losses in four seasons. Of these, the most unforgettable was the first, 2016-17, when the Costa del Sol team managed to win the competition after beating Valencia Basket in a best-of-three-match final.
Leaning at the BCL
The last competition that Unicaja joined is the Basketball Champions League (BCL), in which it has played 29 games during 2 courses (2021-22 and the current one, 2022-23), with 20 wins and 9 lossess. It will be, precisely, in the semifinals of the BCL Final Four when the Club will add its 500th match in its entire history in Europe. An occasion that can be worth the pass to the grand final of the tournament.
In so many there are moments to remember. That Unicaja that was able to eliminate Barça in the quarterfinals of the competition 2-1 in a series of the best of three games resolved in the last minute of the third match at the Carpena. There, with a tie at 62, Pepe Sánchez scored a triple for history with 8 seconds remaining that was decisive for the 67-64 victory and qualify for the Final Four for the first time, to be held in Athens (Greece). There the powerful CSKA of Moscow awaited, before which they fell 62 to 50 in the semifinals to, 2 days later, beat TAU Cerámica (current Baskonia) 74 to 72 and thus achieve the continental bronze. Ten years later the Eurocup would arrive.
Records for history
499 games give for many performances for history. However, you don’t have to go far back over these 30 years in European competitions to find some records for the Malaga team. This same season, in the semifinals of the BCL qualifying phase, Unicaja achieved its highest score in Europe by beating Heroes Den Bosch (Holland) 114-58. This result also represents the club’s greatest difference in its favor in its entire history, tied with the victory against Joventut in 2011 by 111-55. Another milestone that took place in that match was that the team equaled its highest rating in its entire history, with 159, which took place in another European match, this time in the Eurocup, against Mornar Bar (Montenegro) in 2018 (111- 76).
The match in which Unicaja captured the most rebounds was in the Euroleague against Zalgiris Kaunas, against whom they managed 52 rebounds in the 85-78 victory of the regular season in 2011. In terms of assists, his top was the 32 distributed by the people of Malaga during their visit to Le Mans Sarthé in the Korac Cup in 2001 (86-112). And 19 were Unicaja’s recoveries in the away defeat against Basket Rimini (71-62) in the Korac Cup, in 1999.
A special mention goes to the record for blocks in a European match, with nine, which took place on a very important date: the first leg of the 2001 Korac Cup final against Hemofarm Vrsac. Of those nine, eight were signed by Frédéric Weis, who added 13 points and 10 rebounds for a PIR of 31. A colossal performance that, in addition to setting the Club’s individual record for blocks by a player, was key to the comfortable victory against the Serbs (77-47).
individual performances
In addition to the aforementioned Frederic Weis, the club has also recorded other memorable performances throughout its years in Europe. The top scorer was set by shooting guard Thomas Kelati, with 33 points against Virtus Roma in the Euroleague in 2009 (99-64 victory). The vast majority of his points came from the perimeter, specifically from the 9 triples he made, which are also a club record.
rebounds
Under the hoops, the remembered Kenny Miller sealed the highest rebounding figure to date, with 18 sacks in a game against Reggio Emilia in the 1998 Korac Cup (59-65 loss). The top of assists, with 11, is shared by two players: Omar Cook and Alberto Díaz. The American point guard with a Montenegrin passport distributed them in the Euroleague against the Entente Orléanaise (France) in 2010, while the current Unicaja captain did so the previous year in the Round of 16 of the BCL against Filou Oostende. Another notable cap is held by Veljko Mrsic, who achieved 8 recoveries in the Korac Cup in the clash against Basket Rimini in 1999.
Assessment
Finally, the valuation cap is held by Jorge Garbajosa. The power forward from Torrejón de Ardoz signed 42 credits against TAU Cerámica in the Euroleague victory by 78-76 in January 2005, the result of his 26 points, 9 rebounds and 11 fouls received. One less rating credit was obtained by Carlos Cabezas, who signed sensational 32 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 fouls received for a rating of 41 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv, being the best rating away from home in Europe.
