Euroleague Tips with Previews – Thursday matches

• CSKA swept Fenerbahce in their best-of-five EuroLeague Playoffs series last season.

CSKA Moscow hosts Fenerbahce on Thursday in their first meeting since their playoff series last season, which CSKA swept 3-0. Both teams are looking to bounce back from Round 7 losses. CSKA (4-3) lost 97-80 on the road at AS Monaco despite another fine showing from Will Clyburn, who tallied 19 points and 4 assists. Fenerbahce (2-5) came up short at Olympiacos Piraeus 67-65 for its third straight loss. Those three defeats have come by a combined 5 points. Jan Vesely led the way with 14 points and 9 rebounds against the Reds. The trip is sure to evoke fond memories from Fenerbahce guard Nando De Colo, who played five seasons in Moscow, led CSKA to a pair of EuroLeague crowns and was the EuroLeague MVP and Final Four MVP in 2016.

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade will try to snap a four-game losing streak when it hosts Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on Thursday night. Zvezda (2-5) has been held to less than 64 points in each of its last three games, including a 79-62 loss at AX Armani Exchange Milan last week. Despite the loss, the fabulous game and return to pre-injury form by forward Luka Mitrovic, who had 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in the game, was a bright spot. Panathinaikos lost 70-84 against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne just two days after upsetting Anadolu Efes Istanbul behind an MVP of the Round performance from Daryl Macon Jr. It will be a special game for Macon’s backcourt mate Nemanja Nedovic, who is a product of the Zvezda youth system and made his professional debut with the club. Zvezda has won the last three meetings between these teams.

• Barcelona holds an 11-6 edge in games against Milan since 2000 having won the last four.

There will be one team in sole possession of first place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after AX Armani Exchange Milan takes on FC Barcelona on Thursday night. The two teams enter Round 8 in joint-first place with 6-1 records after each lost for the first time last week. Milan came up short 83-77 in Munich before bouncing back to rout Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at home. Barcelona lost in Tel Aviv at the hands of Maccabi. Barcelona has won four straight against Milan, including an 84-82 thriller in the semifinals of last season’s Final Four in Cologne, Germany, on Cory Higgins’s late jumper. Milan has won nine straight home games, a run that dates back to Round 30 last season when it was beaten 56-72 by Barcelona. Barcelona has won 12 of its last 15 road games.

• This game marks the first EuroLeague game between ASVEL and UNICS.

Two teams coming off excellent weeks will look to keep the momentum going when LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne hosts UNICS Kazan. Both teams went through the two-round week to finish October unscathed. ASVEL triumphed over CSKA Moscow at home before beating Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on the road. League-leading scorer Elie Okobo erupted for a club-record 35 points against the Greens to earn MVP of the Round honors in Round 7. UNICS took care of a pair of Spanish clubs in dismissing Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Real Madrid. Veteran forward Andrey Vorontsevich set the tone with 27 points on 6-of-10 three-point shooting between the two games. This game marks the first time the clubs have ever met in a EuroLeague game, though they had previously clashed in the 7DAYS EuroCup as well as the EuroLeague Qualifying Rounds.