Real blasts Fenerbahce in Istanbul

Real Madrid handed Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul one of its worst defeats ever on its home court with a 65-94 beatdown on Thursday night at Ulker Sports and Event Hall. The result ensured Real at least a share of second place at the end of the round with a 19-6 record, while Fenerbahce fell to 11-14 and remains outside the playoff zone. Jaycee Carroll shined with 20 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting, Walter Tavares tallied 16 points and 8 rebounds, Trey Thompkins added 14 points, Jordan Mickey 12 and point guards Facundo Campazzo and Nicolas Laprovittola combined for 15 of Real's 30 assists. Nando De Colo was perfect in 11 trips to the foul line en route to 21 points for Fenerbahce and Jan Vesely added 16 in defeat.

Both teams looked to their big men early, but it was three-pointers by Gabriel Deck and Nikola Kalinic that got the scoreboard going. The lead traded hands with Tavares putting the visitors ahead 8-9 with a dunk midway through the first quarter. A floater and a three-pointer by Carroll – the latter thanks to a steal by Usman Garuba – triggered a 0-9 Real run that Tavares capped with a pair of buckets to make it 13-20. Free throws by De Colo and slam by Mickey ended the first quarter at 15-22. A three-pointer by Garuba early in the second quarter gave the visitors a double-digit lead, 17-27. A Fenerbahce timeout did little to change the momentum as Mickey extended the margin to 14. Things changed after Fabien Causeur inadvertently hit Kostas Sloukas in the face while going for the ball, which resulted in an unsportsmanlike foul that was followed by a Vesely slam that brought the crowd to its feet. De Colo trimmed the gap to 25-31, but Rudy Fernandez sank free throws and a three-pointer to restore a double-digit lead for Real. Fernandez's steal and assist to Laprovittola completed a 0-10 run. Despite the best efforts of De Colo, triples by Thompkins and Laprovittola extended the lead to 18. A jumper by Vesely made it 31-47 at the break.

De Colo scored the first 5 points of the second half, but a three-pointer by Carroll kept Real in control. Aggressive Fenerbahce defense caused a few Real turnovers and threes by De Colo and Ali Muhammed rallied the hosts to 45-56. De Colo got the margin under 10, but Carroll and Fernandez made back-to-back triples and the difference was up to 51-66. Carroll's fourth three-pointer of the night made it a 20-point game and that’s how the third quarter ended, 51-71. Thompkins started the fourth with a triple and the Real cushion continued to grow. It peaked at 53-82 on a basket by Mickey in the paint. Kalinic and Vesely chipped away at the deficit, but the outcome was never in doubt and a late Real flourish brought the final margin up to 29.

Game-changing moment

After Fenerbahce trailed by 14, it went on an 8-0 run that featured a spectacular Jan Vesely slam and the crowd was into the game. And then Rudy Fernandez happened. He missed a three-pointer, but landed on James Nunnally's foot. He turned that into 3 free throws and followed it with a three-pointer to trigger a 0-10 run that saw the visitors' lead swell to 25-41.

Telling stats

Real dominated the rebounding battle 20-38 and totaled 30 assists, while Fenerbahce only had 11. Real’s other impressive number was its 28-for-39 shooting on two-pointers – 71.8%.

A historic defeat

The 29-point margin of defeat was the third-worst at home for Fenerbahce in EuroLeague history and its worst in seven years. That was a 60-99 drubbing at the hands of another Spanish club, FC Barcelona, on February 21, 2013.

Moving up the charts

Nando De Colo's 21 points took him into fourth place on the EuroLeague's career scoring charts with 3,039 points. He bypassed Zalgiris Kaunas forward Paulius Jankunas (3,033 points), who is due to play later on Thursday. Jaycee Carroll leapfrogged Jaka Lakovic to take over eighth place on the three-point charts with 384 career triples. Jan Vesely climbed past Victor Khryapa for 12th place with 1,072 career rebounds.

Did you notice?

A year removed from winning the MVP award after leading Real to the title at the 2019 Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament, Mario Nakic made his EuroLeague debut in this game. He came on late and sank a jumper with his first tough and added a putback moments later to finish with 4 points, 1 rebound and a PIR of 5 in the final 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

What's next?

Real Madrid will play a rare Monday game when it faces Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on February 24. Fenerbahce will visit Valencia Basket in a game with playoff implications on Friday, February 28.