Can Orléans Loiret Basket really hope for anything this Saturday at Nanterre for the 20th day of Betclic Elite ? After the injury last weekend of winger Lamonte Ulmer, which was added to those of Marcus Paige and Kayven Davenport in January, the OLB will not be able to count either, in the Hauts-de-Seine, on his best player: Youssou N’Doye. The Senegalese pivot, second best scorer and best rebounder of the championship was injured Thursday in training.
“It’s not a big deal, but enough to miss the next two games, we should be able to count on him after the break, when the most important games are there“, has explained Germain Castano Orleans coach. No clash of the titans therefore between the two dominant pivots Youssou Ndoye and Chris Horton (15 points and 7 rebounds in 26 minutes on average). In the racket, Orleans hopes will therefore rest on three JFL (Locally Trained Players) who played last year in Pro B: Bruno Cingala-Mata, Kevin Dinal (who will play his last league match with Orléans Loiret Basket) and Jean-Philippe Dally.
Before the truce, which will come at the right time given the busy infirmary, there is one day left of Betclic Elite to negotiate, against a Nanterre team in great shape : Pascal Donnadieu’s men have just won five of their last six meetings, with success against Limoges, Monaco and Elan Béarnais. Only ASVEL brought down the Ile-de-France residents in 2022.
Declares them:
Germain Castano : “We will play them at 200%. 40 minutes, five boys against five boys on the pitch, a lot can happen. I would be a liar to try to make you believe that on paper, we will be stronger than Nanterre. It’s wrong. Of course we will be diminished, but we have to go there with ideas and try things. We’re going to have fun for 40 minutes, in addition to the result, it’s not just that. There are attitudes, individual performance and collective performance. There are things to learn for the future. To hope for something? You will have to collect less than 80 points and shoot at 60% success.“
Bruno Cingala-Mata, OLB strong winger: “_I like this kind of challenge, especially defensively. I think I’ve shown good things in the league so far. I like being assigned to the best player opposite ( _Chris Horton, Ed) and to have the mission to limit it. There, the opportunity that I want to have above all is to impact him offensively, so that at the end of the match, he is a little more knocked out and lacks lucidity.“.
Nanterre – OLB to live on France Bleu Orléans
Nanterre-Orléans Loiret Basket, it’s to live live and in full at 8 p.m. this Friday from the Palais des sports Maurice Thorez on France Bleu Orléans and France Bleu.fr.