By Stefan Acevski/ info@eurohoops.net
Last week, the group stage of the FIBA Basketball Champions League concluded, after which we learned which teams advanced directly to the Round of 16, which teams will play in the Play-In, and which teams were eliminated after just six games.
One of the teams that will play in the Play-In against Heidelberg is Czech Nymburk, and the most credit for that goes to Sir’Jabari Rice, who finished the group stage as the top scorer.
Interestingly, Nymburk had only one win in the group, and that was in the first round when they defeated Sabah (93-65) in front of their fans. It turned out to be enough to progress, despite a 1-5 record. Sabah had the same record, but the Czechs advanced due to a better head-to-head point difference.
Rice had 23 points per game with impressive percentages
Nymburk can boast of having the top scorer of the first stage of the competition Sir’Jabari Rice, who scored 138 points in six games, which is exactly 23 per game.
It’s particularly impressive that he never scored less than 20 points in any game. He achieved this in the last round against Chalon, to whom he scored 24 points in the first match, 28 and 20 against Alba, and 22 and 24 against Sabah, a direct competitor for advancement.
Another excellent aspect of Rice’s performance is that he didn’t spend all his time on the court – he averaged 27 minutes per game, and only played more than 30 minutes against Chalon in the second round, specifically 36 minutes.
He had a 66% field goal percentage for two points, almost 54% accuracy from three-point range, with 2.3 three-pointers made per game, and 81% from the free-throw line.
From New Mexico State to Nymburk
Rice began his college career at New Mexico State, where he played for four years, then took advantage of the option to spend a fifth year in college, this time at Texas.
With the Longhorns, he reached the Elite 8 round of March Madness in 2023, and stood out in the first-round game against Colgate, where he hit seven three-pointers.
He wasn’t drafted, and he spent time in the G League with the Austin Spurs, Sioux Falls Skyforce, and South Bay Lakers, and also had a brief stint in the Dominican Republic, where he played for Metros de Santiago. This summer he joined Nymburk, which is his first club in Europe.
Style of Play
Rice plays as a shooting guard, stands at 193 centimeters tall, and weighs just 82 kilograms, making him one of the lighter guards in the competition. This is actually one of his main advantages.
Sir’Jabari doesn’t rely solely on three-point shooting – despite good percentages, he doesn’t take a high volume of threes, and he significantly improved his makes in the last group stage game, hitting six out of seven attempts.
He has an excellent first step, and what sets him apart and makes him deadly are his finishes around the rim. Rice has a wide range of different finishes off the drive, making him very difficult to guard. After all, his two-point percentages speak to that.
Nymburk now awaits a tough matchup against Heidelberg, and the outcome of this two-game series – and who advances to the Top 16 phase could be decided by Rice, or rather by the German team’s ability to stop him.