By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
You can read it both ways: “2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague” or “Tornike Shengelia’s domination”. The 32-year-old Georgian veteran, in fact, right after receiving his MVP of the Month for October, dominated the encounter against Anadolu Efes, giving Virtus Bologna its fifth consecutive win.
Pushing the black-and-white team to the 5-1 record to begin this year’s EuroLeague, Virtus Bologna’s number 21 had 19 points – 5/9 from two and 9/11 at the line -, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 12 fouls drawn to lead his team, ending with a PIR of 30 that made him the EuroLeague Regular Season Round 6 MVP.
In the post-game flash interview after the impressive win against Anadolu Efes, the Georgian leader stayed humble. “If we continue to play like this”, he first stated when challenged by the interviewer “If you continue to play like this”.
Shengelia praised the team. “I feel like the whole team should be standing here with me. We did an amazing job defensively and offensively throughout our mistakes, we kept playing consistently. This is what we do: our main goal was to protect the home court tonight”, he added.
It’s the second time this season that Toko Shengelia has earned MVP of the Round honors after Round 3 when he posted up the 26-point performance for the home victory by Virtus Bologna against ALBA Berlin, one of October’s games in which he shone the most.
Overall since the beginning of his EuroLeague career, where he wore the jerseys of Baskonia, CSKA Moscow, and Virtus Bologna, this is the 8th time he has received an MVP of the Round Award, making him tie legends of the competition like Vassilis Spanoulis, Luka Doncic, and Ioannis Bourousis. Next up, Nikola Mirotic and Sasha Vezenkov, both at 9.
Full list of 2023-24 EuroLeague Round MVPs
- Round 1: Alec Peters, Olympiacos vs Panathinaikos (31 PIR)
- Round 2: Guerschon Yabusele, Real Madrid vs Anadolu Efes (39 PIR)
- Round 3: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Bologna vs ALBA Berlin (32 PIR)
- Round 4: Nikola Milutinov, Olympiacos vs Partizan Belgrade (30 PIR)
- Round 5: Mathias Lessort, Panathinaikos vs Baskonia (31 PIR)
- Round 6: Tornike Shengelia, Virtus Bologna vs Anadolu Efes (30 PIR)
PHOTO CREDIT: Virtus Segafredo Bologna