Kibirkstis-TOKS entered the season with one obvious question hanging over it: how much of the spectacular qualifier offense was sustainable?

They gave us a useful answer in France.

After lighting up their first few games from outside, the Lithuanians went to Basket Landes and shot only 3-of-23 from three. Zoe Wadoux, whose movement and shooting gravity had tortured defenses for weeks, did not make a triple.

Kibirkstis still won 73-67.

The offense kept its usual movement. Nausia Woolfolk continued getting into the defense through pick-and-roll, Niyah Becker kept connecting the perimeter to the frontcourt and Wadoux’s presence still influenced how Landes defended even when the shots were not falling.

Daugilė Ūsė changed where the game was being won.

She finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds, eight of them offensive, while Kibirkstis collected 19 offensive boards as a team. Instead of waiting for the threes to start falling, the Lithuanians punished Landes inside and around the glass.

That is important for a team whose early success had become so closely attached to its shooting. The offensive structure still worked. The payoff simply came from somewhere else.

Landes has a different issue.

Trinity San Antonio was excellent again, scoring 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with six assists and five rebounds, while Murjanatu Musa added 17 points. When those two were on the floor, Landes had enough offense to compete.

The drop when they rested was much more noticeable.

San Antonio creates most of the perimeter pressure, while Musa gives the offense an interior reference that the bench cannot replicate. Julie Barennes needs combinations that can keep the offense functional when one of them sits.

Flammes Carolo is creating a different kind of problem for Group C.

We have spent plenty of time discussing the French side’s defensive rebounding, and Valencia apparently received the memo. The Taronja grabbed 22 offensive rebounds against Flammes, while the French side finished with only 20 defensive boards.

Normally, that statistic tells you who won.

Not this time.

Valencia committed 21 turnovers, shot 16-of-38 on twos, 9-of-28 from three and only 4-of-7 at the free-throw line. There were good shots in there, but too many possessions either ended with a miss or never reached the rim at all.

Flammes left Valencia with a 77-63 win.

The rebounding issue is real and opponents will keep attacking it. What Flammes keeps doing well is sustaining offense after the first action is stopped.

Coline Franchelin finished with 16 points and nine assists, Noémie Brochant added 17 and the ball kept reaching the next side of the floor. Valencia often handled the initial action reasonably well. Flammes hurt them after that.

At this point, the French side’s start is no longer a novelty.

Valencia and Landes already have pressure

There is no reason to declare anyone dead after two rounds in a six-game group, but 0-2 is already uncomfortable when the stated goal is Zaragoza.

Valencia’s losses have both come at home. The frustrating part is that there have been stretches where the basketball does not look like that of an 0-2 team.

Torralba has clear ideas. Valencia is playing quickly, using five-out spacing and flowing into pick-and-roll before the defense settles. Against Flammes, they created plenty of quality opportunities.

The problem has been execution. The turnovers have been damaging, the shooting has been inconsistent and the rotation has already taken a few hits. Leticia Romero suffered a hamstring injury against Flammes, Kamila Borkowska has been dealing with a knee issue, and Valencia has spent the opening weeks without the continuity Torralba probably expected.

Raquel Carrera’s return helps enormously, while Chloe Bibby gives Valencia another usable piece. Round Three against Rapid Bucuresti is the obvious chance to stabilize.

Landes’ issue is more specific. It needs another source of offense around San Antonio and Musa.

When San Antonio sits, Landes loses much of its downhill pressure. When Musa sits, the offense no longer has the same gravity around the basket. Until somebody else consistently creates an advantage, those minutes will remain difficult.

Fenerbahçe is already adding new wrinkles

There are 50-point games where there is very little worth learning. Fenerbahçe beating Rapid Bucuresti 101-51 came close to being one of them, but Lauren Betts gave us something worth filing away.

Betts finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, making eight of her 11 shots in her first dominant EuroLeague performance. The numbers are less interesting than the options her presence gives Ahmet Çakı.

Fenerbahçe already had Emma Meesseman, perhaps the best frontcourt problem-solver in the competition. Luisa Geiselsöder can pass, space and operate away from the rim, while Julie Allemand can manipulate pick-and-roll without needing to dominate the ball.

Betts gives them a different profile. She can roll hard, live around the rim, attack the offensive glass and allow Fenerbahçe to defend ball screens more conservatively with a genuine deterrent behind the play.

That gives Çakı the ability to change the shape of a game without changing the quality of the lineup.

Schio survives the mess

Crvena Zvezda did what Crvena Zvezda does.

It made Schio uncomfortable.

The Serbian pressure produced 24 Italian turnovers, closed passing lanes and regularly prevented Schio from entering its offense where it wanted. The problem was that Zvezda committed 22 turnovers of its own and made only four of 20 threes.

Eventually, Schio’s shot-making and depth became too much.

Kitija Laksa scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Mariam Coulibaly finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and five steals, and five Schio players reached double figures in the 84-72 victory.

An 11-0 run in the third quarter created separation before a 12-0 burst to begin the fourth effectively ended the argument. Coulibaly punished the paint, María Conde created and distributed, Laksa changed the game without dominating the ball and Costanza Verona kept the offense organized.

Schio did not completely solve Zvezda’s pressure. It simply had enough ways to score around it.

Cecilia Zandalasini has not played yet, which makes that depth even more interesting.

Zaragoza has found an early formula

Athinaikos spent most of its game against Zaragoza recovering from the first six minutes.

The visitors opened 13-0, Merritt Hempe scored eight of those points and the first quarter ended 25-12. Athinaikos gradually cut into the deficit and eventually got the game back to one possession early in the fourth before Ornella Bankole helped Zaragoza regain control.

Bankole finished with 26 points and five threes, while Hempe produced 29 points and 11 rebounds in an 89-78 win.

Mariona Ortiz may still have been the player who best explained why Zaragoza’s offense worked. She added another 10 assists after recording 15 in Week One and is averaging 12.5 through two games.

Hempe and Bankole combined for 55 points, but Zaragoza did not have to force touches toward either one. Ortiz kept reading the floor, and the offense kept finding whichever advantage the defense had left open.

Athinaikos can still take something from the loss. Victoria Macaulay’s 24 points gave the Greek side the interior production it lacked in Lithuania and made the offense look much more balanced than it did in Week One.

Praha gets the useful kind of scare

USK Praha’s 74-71 win at Lublin probably taught Martin Bašta more than another comfortable victory would have.

Lublin went straight at Praha’s current weakness. Without a traditional center available, the Czech side had problems with the Polish interior game, and the lack of outside shooting made those issues harder to offset at the other end.

Lublin stayed attached throughout, produced 10 ties and 12 lead changes and was still ahead inside the final three minutes. Matea Tadić was excellent organizing the offense with 14 assists, repeatedly connecting the perimeter to the interior.

Praha survived because its best players executed late. Frieda Bühner scored 17, Brianna Fraser added 15 on 7-of-8 shooting, and USK closed the final three minutes with a 6-2 run.

It was not particularly pretty, but surviving a bad matchup on the road has its own value.

Galatasaray resets, Bourges stops Emlak’s momentum

Galatasaray needed a cleaner night after opening with a heavy loss to Schio while missing several major pieces.

They got it in Belgium.

Kangoeroes Mechelen stayed close for one quarter before Galatasaray gradually took control of a 77-50 win. Mechelen scored only five points in the second quarter, shot under 30 percent on twos and lost the paint battle 40-10.

Hind Ben Abdelkader remains capable of creating something from difficult possessions, but Mechelen is asking her to rescue too many of them because the offense has struggled to generate clean interior opportunities against EuroLeague size.

Galatasaray had the opposite experience. Nobody needed to dominate. Derin Erdoğan led the team with only 11 points, and the depth did the rest.

Emlak Konut’s evening in Bourges was considerably less comfortable.

The Turkish side led by six at halftime before Bourges changed the game defensively. The French side won the third quarter 22-14, opened the fourth with eight unanswered points and turned the game into a 79-74 victory.

Emlak’s lack of depth became much more visible once Bourges began disrupting the primary actions. The bench contributed only one point, and when Lindsay Allen, Réka Lelik and the first unit stopped creating clean advantages, there was no second source of offense ready to carry the night.

That gives future opponents something concrete to target.

The picture after two rounds

Six teams remain perfect: Zaragoza, Kibirkstis, Schio, Fenerbahçe, USK Praha and Flammes.

The more interesting part is how different their paths have been. Fenerbahçe has overwhelmed opponents. Schio has won through depth and variety. Zaragoza’s offense is flowing through Ortiz. Praha has already survived a difficult road night. Kibirkstis and Flammes have carried their qualifier form directly into the Regular Season.

The standings are still young enough to change quickly. They are no longer young enough to ignore.

Zaragoza vs. Kibirkstis-TOKS: somebody finally loses

This may be the game of Round Three.

Zaragoza has Hempe playing like an MVP candidate and Ortiz seeing passing windows before they fully develop. Kibirkstis just showed it can win without the three-point shooting that had defined its opening weeks.

The glass should matter as much as the perimeter. Ūsė just dominated Landes there, Becker can drag frontcourt defenders into uncomfortable areas and Woolfolk is increasingly comfortable deciding whether a possession needs her scoring or her passing.

For Kibirkstis, Hempe is the matchup problem. Put a traditional big on her and she can pull that defender away from the basket. Go smaller and she can punish the interior. Send help and Ortiz is waiting for the space that creates.

This one should tell us plenty about how both teams respond when the obvious first option is taken away.

Fenerbahçe vs. Flammes: the exam gets much harder

Flammes has earned every bit of its start. Now comes the defending champion.

The rebounding issue becomes particularly dangerous here. Valencia grabbed 22 offensive boards against Flammes, and Fenerbahçe has Betts, Meesseman and enough size around them to make that type of night much more expensive.

Flammes’ best response is to make Fenerbahçe work defensively. Franchelin and company have been excellent at extending actions and forcing multiple rotations, which may help keep Fener’s frontcourt occupied away from the rim.

The matchup is straightforward: Flammes needs its movement to compensate for a major size disadvantage.

Athinaikos vs. Basket Landes: somebody is leaving 0-3

Macaulay’s 24-point performance against Zaragoza gave Athinaikos the interior presence it badly needed, while Landes arrives trying to find more reliable offense around San Antonio and Musa.

The French side should still have an edge, but the gap feels smaller than it did before the season. Athinaikos looked far more comfortable in Week Two, and Vanloo becomes much harder to load up against when Macaulay is creating a real problem inside.

For Landes, the supporting lineups have to give Barennes something dependable.

Valencia does not need style points

There is not much reason to dress up Valencia vs. Rapid Bucuresti. Valencia needs to win.

Rapid has lost its first two games by a combined 82 points, while the Taronja have opened with two home defeats. Injuries have complicated Torralba’s rotation and the offense is still finding its cleanest combinations, but the talent difference in this matchup is significant.

A clean performance and a first win would be enough.

Can Zvezda make Galatasaray ugly?

Crvena Zvezda dragged Schio into exactly the kind of game it wanted for long stretches, forcing 24 turnovers through ball pressure, physicality and disruption away from the ball. Now the same defense gets Galatasaray.

The Turkish side has more creation than Mechelen and enough size to avoid being physically overwhelmed, but Zvezda’s pressure is about more than one matchup. It wants every pass slightly harder, every catch slightly farther from the basket and every action starting one second later.

If Galatasaray breaks that first pressure, the advantage shifts quickly. The game may be decided by how often Zvezda can prevent that first clean advantage from appearing.

Schio should not give Mechelen life

Mechelen has scored 106 points across its first two games. Schio has scored 168.

The Belgians need to get into the paint rather than spending another evening taking the shots an opponent is happy to concede. Ben Abdelkader can manufacture offense, but she cannot be expected to rescue every broken possession.

For Schio, the lesson from Week Two is straightforward: take care of the ball. Zvezda forced 24 turnovers, and unnecessary mistakes are one of the few ways the Italians can make this matchup more complicated than it should be.

Praha vs. Emlak has teeth

Lublin showed everybody where to look.

Until Aminata Gueye returns, Praha can be attacked inside, and Emlak has Stephanie Mavunga and Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah available to test that immediately.

The counter comes at the other end. Bühner and Fraser are comfortable operating away from the rim, forcing Emlak’s bigs to defend through movement rather than simply controlling the paint.

Depth is another concern after Bourges exposed how much Emlak relies on its first unit. Praha has more ways to change the shape of the game from the bench.

That makes this one of the most interesting tactical matchups of the round.

Lublin and Bourges bring the game inside

There will be more fashionable basketball played in Round Three, but this may be one of the most interesting stylistic games.

Lublin wants to establish the interior and play outward. Bourges has become smaller and more mobile but still uses post touches as part of an offense built around quick decisions.

Tadić’s 14 assists against Praha are worth remembering because they came within an offense that repeatedly connected the perimeter to the frontcourt instead of simply running ball screen after ball screen.

Bourges’ job is to make those first entries uncomfortable and use its mobility before Lublin can establish position. Lublin, after coming close against Praha, needs its good basketball to finally produce a result.

Valencia-Flammes produced one of those box scores that is more interesting when the numbers disagree with each other.

Valencia grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to Flammes’ five, an enormous advantage that normally gives a team control of the game. Yet the Taronja still lost by 14 because the rest of the offensive profile pulled in the opposite direction.

The 21 turnovers were the biggest problem. Valencia also shot poorly, while Flammes was considerably more efficient from the field. The rebounds kept giving Valencia extra opportunities, but too few of those opportunities became points.

That is the useful coaching lesson. No single box-score category exists on its own.

An offensive rebound can rescue a poor shot. A turnover can erase a great offensive setup. Shooting efficiency determines whether all those extra opportunities actually become something.

Kibirkstis offered a cleaner example of adaptation. The Lithuanians could not make a three against Landes, so Ūsė attacked the glass, Woolfolk kept applying pressure downhill and the offense found its points elsewhere without abandoning its structure.

That is what the numbers should lead us toward.

Not simply who won a statistical category, but how each team turned its advantages into actual offense.

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.