By Nikola Miloradovic / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce decided to bring back Nando De Colo midway through the 2025/26 season, and already early on it seems like a masterful move from the Turkish club.
In his first EuroLeague game since re-joining the team after three years with ASVEL, the experienced Frenchman was one of the best in a crucial victory over Valencia at Ulker Sports Arena.
“I’m very happy to be back, of course I’m especially happy because we won. I think we put on a solid performance today. As I said before the game, it was important for us to follow the coach’s plan. Of course, we weren’t perfect at every moment of the match, but you know how talented Valencia is. Even so, we stayed focused, concentrated on what we wanted to do, and I think we deserved to win,” De Colo said after the game.
Of course, coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius was pleased with what he saw and made a comparison with Errick McCollum, who Fenerbahce similarly signed midway through last season, and the experienced US guard proved to be a valuable asset in their EuroLeague-winning campaign.
“He’s one of those guys, you know, like we had last year with Errick. They know what to do with the ball. Even when they make mistakes, they make mistakes because they’re logical mistakes. So I guess my job is just to keep Nando fresh. And I think Nando will be on the court a lot in the deciding moments of the game, because he understands what to do, and he will follow the team’s ideas.”
The Lithuanian tactician was in good spirits and made a joke about De Colo missing a free throw—he shot 6/7 from the line.
“It’s good, because then maybe I can catch him in EuroLeague percentage,” Jasikevicius concluded.
Interestingly, over the course of his EuroLeague career, Jasikevicius shot free throws with exceptional precision, registering a 92.3% success rate. De Colo is currently at 93.28%, the all-time best, just ahead of his head coach.