Basket Landes and Zaragoza apparently have no interest in playing comfortable basketball against one another.

Their opening meeting needed overtime before Zaragoza escaped 76-75. The rematch in France somehow found another way to go to the final possession.

Landes entered the fourth quarter ahead by one, and the next few minutes became exactly the kind of basketball you expect between teams that already know each other’s counters. There was no extended run to break the game open. One team scored, the other answered, and neither could create enough separation to make the closing possessions feel safe.

Merritt Hempe eventually did what Merritt Hempe has been doing all season.

With Zaragoza needing something late, the October EuroLeague Women MVP scored four consecutive points to create a three-point advantage. Becky Massey cut it back to one, before Helena Oma went to the line and pushed Zaragoza ahead by three with six seconds remaining.

That final possession was almost as interesting as everything that came before it.

Landes needed a three. Zaragoza defended accordingly.

Rather than getting dragged toward the ball or overreacting to penetration, the Spanish side protected the perimeter and allowed Trinity San Antonio to get to the rim. Her layup made the final score 70-69, but it was the shot Zaragoza could live with because two points no longer solved Landes’ problem.

It was a small example of excellent game-state defense, and it secured much more than another win. Zaragoza moved to 4-0 and became the first Group A team to qualify for the Second Round. Hempe finished with 21 points, Mariona Ortiz added nine assists and Oma contributed 15 points and six rebounds.

Zaragoza is now the only undefeated team left in the competition.

That does not necessarily make them the favorite to win the EuroLeague, but there is no longer any reason to discuss their perfect start as something built on a favorable schedule or early-season variance. They have already beaten Landes twice, handled Kibirkstis’ offense and won on the road in Greece.

They keep getting different questions.

So far, Carlos Cantero’s team keeps finding answers.

Valencia gives the champion its first real bruise

Three weeks ago, Valencia looked lost against Fenerbahçe.

The defending champions went to Spain, won 88-69 and spent much of the night looking like the more mature team at both ends. Valencia started the season 0-2, struggled with turnovers and looked like a roster still learning what Javier Torralba wanted it to become.

The return meeting could hardly have been more different.

Valencia went to Istanbul and won 73-71, ending Fenerbahçe’s 10-game EuroLeague winning streak and handing the defending champion its first loss in the competition since January 14.

This was not a game decided because Fenerbahçe forgot how to play basketball for one evening. There were nine ties and 15 lead changes, and the fourth quarter repeatedly looked ready to tilt toward the home side.

Fenerbahçe opened six-point advantages more than once. Valencia answered each time.

That may be the most encouraging part for Torralba.

Early in the season, Valencia’s difficult stretches tended to compound themselves. One turnover became two. A couple of misses slowed the offense. The defensive energy dropped as the game moved away from them.

In Istanbul, the opposite happened.

Valencia absorbed Fenerbahçe’s runs without changing how it played. Alexis Peterson kept applying pressure from the guard spot, Raquel Carrera battled a huge Turkish frontcourt, and the Taronja continued trusting their offense rather than trying to manufacture a heroic possession every time the game tightened.

Peterson eventually finished the job at the free-throw line.

Fenerbahçe still qualified for the Second Round despite the loss, so there is no crisis in Istanbul. Lauren Betts scored 16 points, Emma Meesseman moved into the top 20 on the all-time EuroLeague Women scoring list, and the champions remain exactly where we expected them to be in the larger picture.

Valencia is the team whose outlook changed.

The 0-2 start has become 2-2. First came the release valve against Rapid Bucuresti. Now there is a road win against the best team in Europe.

Those are very different victories, and Valencia needed both.

Galatasaray finally looks like Galatasaray

For the first three weeks, Galatasaray’s season felt like a collection of excellent players waiting to become an excellent team.

Week Four gave us the closest thing yet to the finished product.

Schio entered the game 3-0 and had already beaten Galatasaray 84-66 in Istanbul. This time Gala flipped the matchup, winning 68-51 in Italy and holding one of the competition’s deepest offenses to only 22 first-half points.

Awak Kuier was at the center of almost everything.

She finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks, becoming only the eighth player in the modern era of EuroLeague Women to record at least seven blocks in a game.

The seven blocks will grab the headline, but her versatility was more valuable than the raw number.

Kuier can protect the rim without being chained to it. Galatasaray could involve her in different pick-and-roll coverages, ask her to switch onto smaller players and still trust that she had enough length and recovery speed to erase mistakes behind the play.

That flexibility changed the space Schio normally operates in.

The Italians like to move from one action into the next, use Coulibaly inside and allow their perimeter players to attack whatever advantage appears. Galatasaray disrupted the chain early. Schio could still execute individual actions, but the possession rarely flowed with the same comfort we saw during the opening three weeks.

The third quarter belonged to Schio, but there was no genuine feeling that Galatasaray was losing control. Every Italian push ran into another defensive response before the margin became dangerous.

For Schio, one bad offensive night does not erase three excellent weeks, and qualification was confirmed anyway.

For Galatasaray, this felt more significant.

At 1-2, we were asking whether all of the individual talent would ever settle into something coherent. One game does not fully answer that question, but slowing Schio to 51 points is the strongest evidence we have seen yet.

Bourges pulls Praha back into the crowd

Group D suddenly looks nothing like it did two weeks ago.

USK Praha started 3-0 and appeared ready to separate from everyone else. Bourges opened with a 21-point loss in Prague and seemed to be fighting for second place rather than threatening first.

Now they are both 3-1.

Bourges won the rematch 85-81, with Alix Duchet producing 20 points and seven assists in one of her best games of the season.

The game stayed close for most of the night before Praha finally gave Bourges an opening in the fourth quarter.

A couple of Czech turnovers turned into an 8-0 Bourges run, and this time Praha did not have the response we saw when it escaped Lublin in Week Two. The French side managed the remaining possessions well enough to keep the game outside one-shot territory.

Praha will also look back at the free-throw line.

They attempted 27 free throws and made only 18, good for 66.7 percent. In a four-point road loss, nine missed free throws need very little additional explanation.

Still, reducing the game to missed foul shots would undersell Bourges.

The French side has now won three consecutive EuroLeague games after its opening loss. The offense looks far more comfortable than it did in Prague, Duchet has settled into the job of organizing it and the ball-screen variety we highlighted last week continues to generate good opportunities.

Group D entered Week Four with Praha looking like the clear favorite.

It leaves with Praha and Bourges level at the top and nobody officially qualified.

That is a much more interesting group.

Athinaikos and Lublin finally get their reward

The standings can become cruel when a team plays better than its record.

Athinaikos and Lublin both entered Week Four at 0-3. Both had already produced stretches of good basketball. Neither had anything tangible to show for it.

That changed quickly.

Athinaikos beat Kibirkstis-TOKS 77-64, and the most encouraging part may have been how much less the offense depended on Julie Vanloo having to score.

Vanloo attempted only four shots and finished with 12 assists, leaning fully into the playmaking part of her game. Robyn Parks exploded for 26 points, Alexis Prince added 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Mariella Fasoula scored 12.

That version of Vanloo makes Athinaikos harder to guard.

Her shooting range will always pull defenders toward her, but she does not need to cash in that gravity herself. Against Kibirkstis, she repeatedly used the attention to create advantages for everybody else.

The defensive improvement mattered just as much.

Kibirkstis shot only 33.9 percent from the field, a major change for an Athinaikos team that had spent much of the opening three rounds allowing opponents to play too comfortably.

At 1-3, there is still very little room for error.

There is finally something to build from.

Lublin’s first victory may have been even more convincing.

The 85-79 final score against Emlak Konut makes the game look closer than it really was for most of the night. Lublin scored 71 points through three quarters and entered the fourth ahead by 19 before Emlak mounted a late rally.

Shyanne Sellers was tremendous: 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, earning the highest efficiency rating of the entire Gameday. Kourtney Treffers added 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

This was the inside-out offense Lublin imagined when the roster was put together.

The post threats created pressure, the perimeter players made good reads around them and Sellers provided the kind of individual creation that prevents the structure from becoming predictable.

Emlak eventually won the fourth quarter 27-14, with Stephanie Mavunga finishing with 26 points, but the comeback arrived too late.

Perhaps the more interesting development is what this does to Emlak.

The Turkish side started its European season with road wins in Athens and Girona during qualifying, followed by a convincing opening win over Lublin. Since then, it has lost three straight EuroLeague games.

The system has not suddenly stopped working.

Opponents are simply beginning to understand where the pressure points are.

Five tickets booked, two teams still waiting for a win

Flammes Carolo did exactly what a good team should do against an overmatched opponent.

It gave Rapid Bucuresti no hope.

The French side led by 19 after the opening quarter and eventually won 103-64, with six players reaching double figures. Coline Franchelin controlled the game with 13 points and 12 assists, while Claudia Cuic’s brilliant 32-point effort barely dented the margin.

Flammes is now officially through to the Second Round.

So is Crvena Zvezda.

Mechelen stayed competitive for a half against the Serbian side before the familiar problem returned. Zvezda increased the defensive pressure after halftime, held the Belgians to 12 third-quarter points and forced eight turnovers in the period.

Once Mechelen could no longer consistently get inside the defense, the game moved quickly.

Crvena eventually won 87-69, with Aliyah Collier scoring 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, Artemis Spanou posting 15 points and 11 rebounds and Destanni Henderson adding 14 points and seven boards.

Mechelen and Rapid are now both 0-4.

The more important number is five.

Zaragoza, Schio, Crvena Zvezda, Fenerbahçe and Flammes Carolo already know they will be playing EuroLeague basketball in the next phase.

Group A is the only group with a perfect team left. Zaragoza sits at 4-0, followed by Kibirkstis at 2-2, with Basket Landes and Athinaikos both 1-3.

Group B has Schio and Crvena Zvezda tied at 3-1, both already qualified. Galatasaray is 2-2 and Mechelen 0-4.

Fenerbahçe and Flammes share the top of Group C at 3-1, while Valencia has recovered to 2-2 and Rapid remains winless.

Group D is where things become properly messy. Praha and Bourges are both 3-1, while Emlak Konut and Lublin sit at 1-3. Nobody has clinched anything.

There is also an important detail that becomes more relevant now that teams are qualifying: all First Round results are carried into the Second Round. Getting through is not enough. Results against the other teams that advance will still be sitting in the standings when Groups A and B merge, and when Groups C and D come together.

That gives the final two games a very different feel for teams like Schio, Fenerbahçe and Zaragoza. Qualification may already be secure, but there are still wins that could matter months from now.

There will be no EuroLeague Women next week.

There will also be very little actual rest.

The Women’s EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers take over the calendar, with games across the November international window on November 11, 14 and 17. Many of the players we have spent the last month discussing will immediately leave their clubs and join national teams before returning to EuroLeague action on November 25.

That makes the break useful for coaching staffs, but potentially exhausting for players. Some teams will get two weeks to practice and recover. Others will get their international players back only days before another European game.

When the club competition returns, there are several matchups worth circling.

Kibirkstis vs. Landes may decide Group A’s real battle

Zaragoza has already qualified.

The interesting race is behind them.

Kibirkstis enters the break at 2-2, while Landes and Athinaikos are both 1-3. The Lithuanians host Landes on November 25 in a game that could do enormous damage to either team’s qualification hopes.

Their first meeting offered one of Kibirkstis’ most impressive wins of the season. The three-point shot disappeared, but Ūsė destroyed the glass and the Lithuanians found a completely different route to victory.

Landes should arrive with a very clear scouting priority.

Finish possessions.

That sounds almost insultingly simple, but 19 offensive rebounds were the difference in the first matchup. Landes has enough defensive quality to slow Kibirkstis’ movement and enough talent through San Antonio and Musa to score, but none of it matters if one defensive stop repeatedly becomes two or three attempts.

Athinaikos travels to Zaragoza on the same night. A Greek team that looked finished two weeks ago now has enough life to make the bottom half of this group uncomfortable.

Schio and Crvena are already playing for the next round

Schio travels to Belgrade knowing it has qualified.

So does Crvena Zvezda.

That makes the game more important, not less.

Because the results carry forward, this is effectively an early Second Round game disguised as a First Round matchup.

Schio won the first meeting 84-72, despite committing 24 turnovers. Zvezda’s defensive pressure made the Italians uncomfortable, but the difference in shooting and offensive variety eventually told.

The rematch asks whether Marina Maljković can push the disruption one step further.

Forcing Schio into mistakes is useful. Converting enough of them into points is what makes the strategy sustainable.

With both teams already through, there is no qualification anxiety attached to this one. There are simply valuable standings points that neither side wants to leave behind.

Flammes gets Valencia again, and this one means more now

Valencia’s win in Istanbul changed the temperature around its season.

Now it has to go to France.

Flammes beat Valencia 77-63 in Spain during Week Two, surviving 22 offensive rebounds because Valencia turned the ball over 21 times and never found enough shooting to punish the extra chances.

A lot has changed since then.

Carrera is back. Valencia looks more comfortable in Torralba’s offense. Chloe Bibby has added another shooter and frontcourt decision-maker. Most importantly, the Taronja have now shown they can execute late against Fenerbahçe.

Flammes has changed the conversation around itself too. It is no longer the qualifier team trying to hang around. It is 3-1 and officially into Round Two.

This should be one of the best games of Gameday Five because both sides now know exactly what the first meeting exposed.

Valencia has to protect the ball.

Flammes has to protect the glass.

Everything else can grow from there.

Group D has no room for a quiet night

The most volatile group in the competition gives us two games with obvious consequences.

Emlak Konut hosts Bourges, while Praha gets another crack at Lublin.

Bourges enters the break with three consecutive wins and a completely different offensive identity from the team Emlak beat earlier in the season. Duchet has more control, the pick-and-roll menu has expanded and the team is making better decisions after the first defensive rotation.

Emlak, meanwhile, has lost three straight.

This is where Murat Alkaş needs to find another layer. Allen and Lelik remain excellent creators, Mavunga and Kunaiyi-Akpanah give them frontcourt power and the base offense still creates good situations. The problem is how dependent the team can become on those primary pieces when an opponent takes away the first option.

Bourges is exactly the kind of defense that will make them prove there is something else.

Praha should be favored at home against Lublin, but Week Two already showed how uncomfortable that matchup can become. The Polish side’s interior offense gave USK serious problems before the Czech team escaped 74-71.

Now Lublin arrives with a win behind it and Sellers playing excellent basketball.

Group D has two teams at 3-1 and two at 1-3.

There is no dead game left.

Galatasaray finally has a chance to breathe

Galatasaray’s reward for beating Schio is a home game against winless Mechelen.

On paper, this is exactly what Frédéric Dusart’s team needs.

The first meeting ended 77-50, with Galatasaray’s physicality making it extremely difficult for Mechelen to generate anything inside the arc. The Belgian side still has not solved that problem consistently.

For Gala, the priority should be less about the opponent and more about continuity.

Can the defensive intensity from Schio become normal rather than exceptional? Can Juhász, Fauthoux, Kuier and the rest of the roster start looking like connected pieces every week rather than a collection of high-level options?

The talent was never really in question.

Week Four finally showed what the structure can look like around it.

There are few late-game situations coaches debate more than defending a three-point lead inside the final seconds.

Do you foul before the opponent can shoot?

Do you defend normally?

Do you switch everything?

How much help are you willing to send toward the paint?

Zaragoza gave us a clean example against Basket Landes.

Helena Oma’s two free throws put Zaragoza ahead 70-67 with six seconds left. Landes needed a three to tie.

That changes what a good defensive possession looks like.

Under normal circumstances, allowing San Antonio to get downhill for a layup is not ideal. You want to protect the rim, stop penetration and force a difficult finish.

With six seconds left and a three-point lead, the math changes.

A layup cannot tie the game.

Zaragoza stayed attached to the perimeter and refused to create a clean kick-out opportunity. San Antonio eventually got to the basket and scored, but the clock became Zaragoza’s best defender. The layup turned 70-67 into 70-69 and the game was over.

There is another school of thought here: foul intentionally before the opponent can attempt a three.

That removes the tying shot entirely, but introduces different risks. Foul too late and it can become three free throws. After two free throws, an intentional miss can create an offensive-rebound scramble. One communication mistake can turn a clever strategy into disaster.

Cantero chose the cleaner option.

Protect the only shot that could extend the game.

What makes the possession interesting is that Zaragoza did not necessarily “stop” Landes in the traditional sense. Landes scored.

It simply scored the wrong number of points.

That is one of the most useful late-game lessons basketball can give us. Defense is not always about preventing a basket. Sometimes it is about understanding exactly which basket you are willing to concede.

Zaragoza understood the situation.

Four weeks into the season, that attention to detail is one reason it is the only undefeated team left.

This article was co-written by the European Hoops Podcast team, André Lemos and João Caeiro. Follow us at @EthosEuroLeague and subscribe to the European Hoops Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.