Buducnost Podgorica – U-BT Cluj-Napoca, a decisive match for qualifying for the EuroCup “quarters”!
Article by David Istrate – Published Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 9:10 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 9:20 p.m.
Tonight, U-BT Cluj-Napoca has the opportunity to qualify for the third consecutive season in the quarter-finals of the BKT EuroCup. The champion of Romania plays, on the road, on the field of Buducnost Podgorica a decisive match, which started at 20:01 and can be watched liveTEXT on GSP.ro and live on Prima Sport 3.
With 9 wins and 9 losses, U-BT Cluj-Napoca finished group A in 6th place and qualified for the second year in a row in the last 16 of the EuroCup. In the last round of the regular season, Mihai Silvășan's team, faced with a decisive duel with Aris Salonic, won 111-92 and secured his presence in the next phase of the competition.
Live. Buducnost – U-BT Cluj-Napoca, confrontation in the EuroCup “eighties”: 45-62
Min. 25. 45-60. Extremely important possession won by the “students”, after an aut initially awarded in favor of Buducnost. After reviewing the replays, the referees reversed the decision.
Min. 22. 41-55. U-BT maintains a 14-point gap on the table for now.
Start of the 3rd quarter.
I'm sure we'll have energy. It's a game where we can't protect ourselves. There are 20 minutes left and we have to keep it up. We had a great first half but it means nothing if we don't keep going. We have to recover and use our advantage, which is the speed we have
– Mihai Silvășan, at halftime of the match
That's the goal (no keeping pace), we've played like this all year, we have one of the highest points/game averages in the competition and we need to have the same level of energy and intensity in the second half as well
– Daron Russell (13 points, 4 assists in the first half), at halftime of the game in Montenegro
Daron Russell, defender of U-BT Cluj-Napoca/Photo: euroleaguebasketball.net
The end of the first half. 38-52. 14 points advantage for the Romanian champion, who played excellently.
Min. 18. 34-50. The black and whites defend excellently, thanks to Taylor and Karel Guzman, and rebound very well offensively.
Min. 16. 34-46. Woodbury triple and a new rest time for the blue and white.
Min. 15. 32-43. In a tricky moment, Russell scores a basket from distance and stops the Montenegrins' comeback. Then he also makes 3 free throws.
Min. 13. 29-35. Buducnost closes to 6 points, and the coach of the guests immediately requests a time-out. The home technician asks his students to foul.
Min. 12. 27-34. Both offensives start the second sequence excellently. Axel Bouteille, penalized with a technical foul.
Start of the 2nd quarter.
MONSTER JAM 💥
Nighael Ceaser with zero regard for the rim 🚨#RoadToGreatness | @UBTCluj pic.twitter.com/s32Clp2chW
— BKT EuroCup (@EuroCup) March 11, 2026
End of the first quarter. 20-29. 7-2 run for the Montenegrins in the last minutes of the sequence, after Mihai Silvășan introduced his reserves on the field.
Min. 8. 13-27. Before Molinar converted two free kicks, Buducnost's fans, dissatisfied with an arbitration decision, threw objects onto the pitch.
Min. 7. 13-25. Dunk on the counterattack for Ceaser, and the Cluj players continue to dominate the inaugural quarter. A “triple” by Creek follows and Andrej Zakelj calls for a time-out.
Min. 5. 10-18. Russell stands out and makes two consecutive baskets from distance.
Min. 3. 5-9. 5 more points scored by U-BT's Panamanian and Australian.
Min. 2. 0-4. Molinar and Creek scored the first points of the game.
Start of the match in Podgorica. The visiting starters are Daron Russell, Iverson Molinar, Jeffery Taylor, Mitch Creek and Nighael Ceaser. The hosts are without Fletcher Magee and Andrija Slavkovic.
Today, March 11, another decisive confrontation awaits U-BT, this time for qualification to the quarter-finals of the EuroCup, where it left off in both 2024 and 2025. The opponent of the black and whites is Buducnost Podgorica, a group that had a record of 12-6 and ranked 3rd in group B.
The match will be played in the Moraca Sports Center, an arena with a capacity of 6000 seats in the capital of Montenegro. Buducnost won 8 out of 9 games played at home in the EuroCup regular season.
Run since 2023 by Andrej Zakelj, who is also the coach of the Montenegrin national team until the summerwhen his place will be taken by Zvezdan Mitrovic, the technician of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, Buducnost impressed, having an exceptional batch.
The leaders of the Blue and White are Yogi Ferrell (12.9 points, 4.1 assists), Rasheed Sulaimon (12.8 points, 3.2 assists), Nikola Tanaskovic (12.1 points, 5.3 rebounds) and Axel Bouteille (11.8 points, 53.1% on 3-point shooting).
At the same time, Buducnost also has basketball players like Skylar Mays, Juwan Morgan, Fletcher Magee, Jerry Boutsiele or Oleksandr Kovliar. The hosts are coming off a score win in the Adriatic League, 99-67 against Igokea.
U-BT Cluj-Napoca returns to the field 3 days after the defeat with Red Star Belgrade
Instead, the guests had on Sunday, March 8, of a duel with the gallant Red Star Belgrade, the third Euroleague team that came to Cluj in the current season. U-BT controlled the game for two quarters, but ran out of steam in the third and was defeated 85-97.
The main weapons in Mihai Silvășan's team are Daron Russell, Mitch Creek and Dusan Miletic, who are among the best basketball players in the EuroCup. Also, Iverson Molinar, Karel Guzman and Trey Woodbury can always step up.
“Everyone understands the importance of this match. We are playing again in the BKT EuroCup Play-Off. A difficult task awaits us but we certainly have our chances and strengths. We go to Podgorica to fight and try to qualify for the quarter-finals. The atmosphere in the team is good, everyone is fit and we are looking forward to the game“, said Silvășan, the coach of Cluj, according to u-bt.basketball.
“Whenever you have an opportunity to play an all-or-nothing game, it's something we always try to appreciate and capitalize on. Basketball doesn't always offer opportunities like that, so we have to take full advantage of them, have a great experience and hopefully come home with a win,” added U-BT veteran Creek.
Andrej Zakelj about U-BT Cluj-Napoca: “It's one of the fastest teams in Europe”
On the other side, Zakelj admitted that his team is the favourite, but stated that they will have to show it on the pitch. The 47-year-old technician praised the audience and asked for their help, saying his students will need to show focus and energy.
“I know the coach of Cluj, a team that is a difficult opponent every season. It has a quality squad, especially in attack, and it plays very fast, statistically it is one of the fastest formations in Europe”, stated Zakelj.
“That's the biggest threat to us, their transition play and the individual quality of players like Russell and others. I think that Cluj is, at this moment, as good as other teams (top number) in the EuroCup”, he added.
On Tuesday, March 10, the Cluj delegation flew to Podgorica with a charter, being accompanied by a number of fans who made the trip. In case of success, U-BT Cluj-Napoca will face Bahcesehir Istanbul in the quarter-finals of the EuroCup, a group that defeated them twice in the group stage.
