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Defenses should be in the spotlight today

Oostende lost only one home game last year. They were defeated to Valencia, who went on to win Eurocup. This season didn't get off to such a great start for Oostende as they got defeated in the very first home game (ASVEL in Euroleague qualifying match) and then again in Eurocup first round to Dijon.

The defense has so far been Oostende's greatest weapon and not counting the ASVEL game, only Dijon managed to score more than 70 points (72) against the Belgian team. Oostende are by far the most complete Belgian team and when motivated, don't really have a proper opponent in the Belgian championship. They beat Liege convincingly over the weekend, settling the game by half time (14 points up). The final point-difference was 21, with Oostende conceding a total of 61 point.

Oostende's point guard Djordjevic was the top scorer with 18 points (plus 6 assists), while Wes Wilkinson added 15 points and 6 rebounds). Djodjevic's good performances and the fact coach has a number of good-quality players to choose from made up for the absence of Mihailovic, who missed the last few games and might not play today either. Center Echenique might not play either after spending only 3 minutes in the Liege game, but there's no confirmation he got injured.

Home team seem to fear Gran Canaria's 220cm tall center Tavares more than any other player.

- It's a talented young player who is doing great and. I will have to good defense and try and make up for the fact I'm 12 cm shorter. We need to stop him as a team as much as that will be possible - Oostende's 208 cm tall center Berggren said and added:

- Gran Canaria are much more than just centers. We need to learn from the defeat in Dijon when we had too many turnovers and never once managed to find the right rhythm. We need to do our best in front of our fans. 

- They're competing in the Spanish league and playing particularity good transition. We need to do better than we did in Dijon. Our defense needs to be tough to allow us to create attempts easily. They're a powerful team, but we're playing home - Djordjevic said.

Aito Garcia Reneses' team won their first two home games convincingly (Obradorio by 15 points, Cantu by 20) and lost two two away just as convincingly (Real 13, Barcelona 19). The Barcelona and Real games are not your regular games, especially since Canaria still need time to get organized after all the changes the team underwent. Reneses has some new plans, but most of his ideas are similar to the former coach Martinez's.

Canaria destroyed Cantu last week, having scored over 100 points, but then met Barcelona and their good game was nowhere to be seen. It was 28-17 by the first period's end and Canaria were constantly down the rest of the game by about 10 points. Barcelona are just too good for them at the moment.

- We don't need to change anything, but we need to know what to do and the players need to see it - coach Aito said. He compared Cantu and Oostende...

- They're oriented on the team and their style is very different to Cantu's. The Italians have good individual quality but we're now meeting a team that acts a team.

Barcelona scored 12 out of 24 three point attempts, while Canaria scored 5 out of 19 attempts.

- We need to be scoring more three-pointers. Barcelona scored a lot of those in our head-to-head game. We played better defense against Cantu and that is what we need to be doing today - Kuric said. He is the top scorer at Canaria, having scored 3 out of 6 three pointer against Barcelona. The rest of the team had efficiency of 2/13, with Baez scoring both of those. That is enough proof their back court did horribly in that game. 

Defense will be the focus today, and with Oostende doing well home, Aito's team are in a for the first proper test away - Real and Barcelona are out of both their leagues.

Oostende played five matches since the start of the Belgian championship and in neither of them received more than 70 points. At the start of the Eurocup they've lost in an away match against Dijon with 63-72, in the Belgian derby against Spirouo it was 64-64, they left the extremely fast Antwerp at 67 points (62 in the Supercup), Liege at 61 a couple of days ago... It's known that Oostende are playing a firm and aggresive defense under Gjergje. They are a team with no stars, a hardy, working team who are based on the collective. Prior to today's match they say they want to give 300% of themselves, they're stressing out the importance of the defense. Gran Canaria played an attractive match at the beginning of the Eurocup against Cantuo, but Oostende play a different game than the Italians. During the weekend they scored 61 points in Barcelona, won Obradorio at home with 72-57, left Real at 70 in an away match. It's clear that the Spaniards have a better defense than their offense, and when we add the Belgian play style to it, it's hard to expect anything else but a firm and defensive match.