Performance for U-BT Cluj-Napoca! Mihai Silvășan's team, mathematically qualified in the play-off of the ABA League
Article by David Istrate – Published Tuesday, 31 March 2026, 10:07 / Updated Tuesday, 31 March 2026 10:09
In its first season in the Adriatic League, U-BT Cluj-Napoca has already qualified for the play-off of the competition, although there are still 3 stages to play. With a record of 13 wins and 8 defeats, the Romanian champion will most likely rank 5th, but it also has a chance to finish 4th.
Last summer, U-BT Cluj-Napoca announced that it will participate in the ABA League, a regional competition with strong Euroleague teams such as Red Star Belgrade, Dubai Basketball or Partizan Belgrade.
In its first season in the ABA League, U-BT Cluj-Napoca will play in the “quarters” of the competition”
Assigned to group A, the black and whites finished the first phase of the league in 3rd place, with a record of 10 wins and 6 defeats, and qualified for the Top 8 phase. The first 6 teams from this group qualify directly for the play-off, while the last two will have to go through a play-in against the teams from the play-out group.
In the Top 8, despite starting with two losses, U-BT managed to get three positive results in a row and reached a record of 13-8. The victories with Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (98-95 in Cluj and 84-72 in the capital of Slovenia) were impressive, as the “students” had 4 absentees in each game.
Monday, March 30, Partizan Belgrade won 82-66 against KK Bosna Sarajevo and thus U-BT Cluj-Napoca mathematically qualified for the ABA League play-offsbecause it can no longer be surpassed in the ranking by either Bosna or Igokea.
In addition to this performance, thanks to the successes with Cedevita, U-BT has the first chance to finish the Top 8 phase in 5th place, which would theoretically provide them with a more accessible opponent in the ABA League quarters, which will be played in the “best of 3 matches” format.
Transylvania have 3 more matches until the play-off, on April 5 (vs. Bosna Sarajevo, BTarena), on April 13 (vs. Red Star Belgrade, away) and on April 19 (vs. Buducnost Podgorica, BTarena).
ABA League standings
The ranking of the Top 8 group of the ABA League, with 3 stages remaining/Photo: captura liga-aba.com
U-BT also participated in the BKT EuroCup this season and reached the quarter-final stage, where they played a good match against Bahcesehir Istanbul. In the end, Mihai Silvășan's students were defeated by the Turks 75-72 and missed qualifying for the EuroCup semifinals.
At the end of April, U-BT will also start its participation in the National League, directly entering the play-offs. The titular champion has already won the Super Cup and the Romanian Cup this season.
27-18is the balance sheet of U-BT Cluj-Napoca in the 2025-2026 season
