Article by David Istrate – Published Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 5:55 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 6:02 p.m.
U-BT Cluj-Napoca and Neptunas Klaipeda are dueling tonight, in a match from the 11th stage of the EuroCup. The game started at 18:00 and can be watched, liveTEXT, on GSP.ro and, live, on Prima Sport 1.
U-BT Cluj-Napoca starts a series of 6 consecutive games at home, and the first game will take place tonight, in BTarena, in the company of Neptunas Klaipeda, one of the pleasant surprises of the competition.
Live. U-BT Cluj-Napoca – Neptunas Klaipeda 5-0
Min. 1. 5-0. The game started with a spectacular slam-dunk on the counterattack by Guzman and a 3-pointer by Molinar.
Start of match. The owners of U-BT Cluj-Napoca are: Iverson Molinar, Trey Woodbury, Karel Guzman, Mitch Creek and Dusan Miletic.
The Romanian champion comes after a frustrating defeat at Bahcesehir Istanbul, one of the top teams in the group. Without Daron Russell and Jeffery Taylortwo starters, the black-and-whites offered a serious reply for 3 quarters, but gave way in the decisive sequence and lost.
After a week off, U-BT will be back in front of their own supporters, being Nighael Ceaser's home debut. The American pivot replaced the Ghanaian Nathan Mensah, who was excluded from the team, in Mihai Silvășan's rotation.
Transylvania will have all players available, including Daron Russell, who stood out in the tour duel with Neptunas, when he scored 37 points.
Neptunas Klaipeda, returning to the EuroCup after several years, managed to surprise and the most recent victim of the Lithuanians was even Bahcesehir. The guests include two basketball players who played in Romania, one of them at U-BT Cluj-Napoca.
It's about Donatas Tarolisa player who was part of Silvășan's team in the period 2019-2021, after which he also played for CSM CSU Oradea, and Egidijus Mockeviciusthe former pivot of CSM Constanța.
Considering that both groups have a record of 5-5 in the EuroCup, the clash in the BTarena is extremely important. Group A is very balanced, and the battle for the playoffs of the competition promises to be contested.
Mihai Silvășan: “The idea is to put a lot of emphasis on defense”
It is certainly an extremely important match for the final configuration of the standings. From our experience in recent seasons in the EuroCup, at the moment no match is decisive, but it can weigh in an eventual ranking in the top 6 places.
We really need the support of the fans, we need them to support us and push us from behind if we have difficult moments because, I repeat, it is a tough game with a team that scores a lot of points. In the last four games they played they scored over 100 points.
They have very good pitchers, they rely on that aspect a lot, so overall they are a very good team. Our goal is to reduce their efficiency, and for that we have to defend very aggressively. We saw in the Bahcesehir game what can happen if they are allowed to play their game and shoot free throws, when they scored 18 triples and won in dominant fashion.
The idea is to put a lot of emphasis on the defense and make their efficiency go down, get the ball back and go in transition where it's an advantage of ours. At the moment all the players are fit, we had two very good training sessions and we are waiting to translate these training sessions into the match.
I had a bit more rest in the last week, I needed it, because there is a busy period ahead with many matches
– Mihai Silvasanaccording to the official website of U-BT Cluj-Napoca
