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TAYLORHOOPS.COM ULM UPDATE

EXCITING TIMES!

ULM HOSTS DUSSELDORF GIANTS AS RATIOPHARM EXTENDS!

ratiopharm Ulm vs Dusseldorf Giants

Saturday Febuary 7, 2009 7pm

Sportszentrum Kuhberg Ulm , Germany

ratiopharm Ulm hosts the Dusseldorf Giants Saturday night at Sportszentrum Kuhberg in Ulm. After establishing themselves as a Bundesliga power that led to 14 championships in Leverkusen, the Giants relocated to Dusseldorf this season and are working to continue the winning tradition. Also further establishing themselves, Ulm management Thomas Stoll and Andreas Oettel announced a new two year extension with main sponsor ratiopharm that will stabalize the present while laying the foundation for the future. Certainly, these announcements mean exciting times for ratiopharm Ulm basketball on and off the floor!

ratiopharm Ulm's Jeff Gibbs was fantastic in Dusseldorf earlier this season with an 18 point 20 rebound double double that included the game winning basket!

click here for regio-tv game preview

Click for 10-4- 2008 Ulm @ Dusseldorf Photo Gallery from

www.American-Sports.info!

After ratiopharm Ulm's disappointing performance on the road last weekend in Braunschweig, the team returned to the practice floor with a heavy emphasis on defense. In last weekends loss, ratiopharm Ulm allowed the Bundesliga's lowest scoring team to reach the century mark as the Phantoms scored 100 points for the first time this season. Ulm was also outrebounded, surrendered 56% shooting and gave away 18 turnovers in the 100-74 loss. Working hard on the practice court all week, ratiopharm Ulm looks to bounce back at home Saturday against Dusseldorf with a performance more like the last home game which resulted in a big win over Bamberg.

ratiopharm Ulm sharpshooter Lee Humphrey

Saturdays game features alot on the line for both teams. ratiopharm Ulm aims to bounce back from last weeks sub-par defensive effort and get back on track with another home win. At 7-1 on the season at home, ratiopharm Ulm enjoys a strong home court advantage at Sportszentrum Kuhberg thanks in part to their enthusiastic and supportive fans. Ulm enters Saturday's game against Dusseldorf at 12-7 holding 6th place in the Bundesliga standings. Meanwhile, Dusseldorf brings an 8-11 mark to Saturdays game and the Giants are motivated to snap a three game losing streak. A playoff team the last two seasons including a fantastic 25-9 3rd place finish in their last season in Leverkusen, the Giants are focused to make the playoffs in their first season in Dusseldorf.

ratiopharm Ulm center Sean Finn dunks over Dusseldorf defense earlier this season.

Dusseldorf has welcomed the winning tradition and Bundesliga basketball. A traditional Bundesliga power and 14 time league champion, Bayer Leverkusen moved to Dusseldorf last summer as Bayer stepped back as main sponsor to focus completely on their Bundesliga soccer team. Head coach, the Bundesliga coach of the year last season, has brought his uptempo style and offensive basketball to Dusseldorf. Recently, the Giants achieved their first big success in their new home city winning their way to the German Cup Top 4 tournament at the end of the month. Tipping off this season, Dusseldorf opened with two wins including an exciting 69-68 September 20th, 2008 season opening home victory over Koln 99ers and winning 64-59 at Bremerhaven September 28th, 2008. October 4th, ratiopharm Ulm edged Dusseldorf 72-71 at Burg-Wacther-Costello. October 11th, the Giants beat EnBW Ludwigsburg 85-82 at home before losing 91-74 October 22 in Paderborn. October 26th, Dusseldorf returned home to beat Nordlingen 79-60. The Giants dropped their next two games November 1st 77-57 on the road in Trier and November 9th 94-83 at home to Bamberg. At 4-4, Dusseldorf won their next two games beating Braunschweig 74-63 November 16th and 75-71 at home to Tubingen November 22nd. After improving to 6-4, the Giants suffered a 3 game losing streak falling to Frankfurt 84-80 at home November 29th, dropping an 88-74 road loss in Gottingen December 4th and losing 84-73 on the road in Oldenburg December 7th. The Giants bounced back to earn their biggest win of the season beating ALBA Berlin 84-81 December 14th at home. December 21st, the Giants fell to Telekom Baskets Bonn 70-60 at Telekom Dome in Bonn and the Giants went into Christmas break at 7-8. Dusseldorf tipped off 2009 with another excellent performance beating Artland Dragons 88-77 on the road January 3rd. Since evening at 8-8, the Giants have lost three consecutive games January 11th 91-84 at home to LTi Giessen, January 24th at Koln 80-78 and last weekend Febuary 1st 84-79 at home to Bremerhaven.

ratiopharm Ulm's Romeo Travis

ratiopharm Ulm and Dusseldorf played an exciting and intensely competitive game in their first meeting of the season. ratiopharm Ulm's All Star Power Forward Jeff Gibbs scored the game winning basket with 8 seconds to play and the teams defense held on through the final buzzer in a thrilling 72-71 road win over Dusseldorf Giants Saturday night October 4th, 2008 at Burg-Wachter Costello Sportshalle in Dusseldorf Germany. The exciting game featuring two early season unbeaten teams played out as the tale of two halves with Ulm starting strong bursting to a 52-39 halftime lead and Dusseldorf answering with a tremendous second half surge. With 4 minutes remaining the game was tied at 66 and both teams had several opportunities to take the lead but failed to score for two minutes. Dusseldorf took a 71-68 advantage into the last minute of play but a strong Ulm defense, big baskets from Romeo Travis and Jeff Gibbs and a couple fortunate bounces helped Ulm earn the exciting road win. Ulm's All Star Power Forward Jeff Gibbs stuffed the stat sheet scoring 18 points, grabbing 20 rebounds, dishing out 5 assists and registering 3 blocks in a fantastic effort topped off with a fantastic finish!

click here for 10-4-08 Ulm @ Dusseldorf Game Summary!

ratiopharm Ulm Keith Triplett at introductions!

Last season, ratiopharm Ulm and Bayer Leverkusen met for the final times on the floor before German pharmaceutical company Bayer stepped back as main sponsor in Leverkusen and the traditional basketball organization moved to nearby Dusseldorf. Ulm and Leverkusen split their games in 2007-2008. On March 24th, 2008, ratiopharm Ulm's 105-87 home win was the perfect remedy for the bitter pill of last seasons doule-overtime German Cup loss in Berlin which left everyone competitively-sick. Pharmaceutical products aside, ratiopharm Ulm's Easter Monday win gave the team and fans a 'Feel-good' performance to remember in taking a third straight Bundesliga win. In the last of the classic games between Pharmaceutical giants Bayer and ratiopharm, for Ulm, topping Leverkusen in a terrific team effort was good medicine.

Click here for Ulm v Leverkusen March 24, 2008 Game Summary!

Earlier last season on November 11th, 2007, ratiopharm Ulm went into Leverkusen and built a 14 point lead in the third quarter before Leverkusen's veteran shooter Tyron McCoy helped spark a comeback. With a strong fourth quarter, Leverkusen topped Ulm 87-77 in a fast-paced exciting game.

Click here for 11-11-07 Ulm @ Leverkusen Game Summary

ratiopharm Ulm floor general Dru Joyce taking time for the fans!

In the 2006-2007 season, both teams protected their home floors in splitting the two head to head matchups. First, ratiopharm Ulm staged a tremendous comeback which was capped by Jonathan Levy's corner three pointer in the teams exciting 95-92 win at Sportszentrum Kuhberg Saturday November 25th. Click here for Game Summary. Later on in the season, Leverkusen used a fantastic three point shooting display from Brandon Woudstra in topping Ulm 89-84 Wednesday April 4th at Wilhelm Dopatka Halle. Click here for Game Summary After suffering through several significant injuries in the early season last year, Leverkusen got it together and marched right into the playoffs finishing the regular season in 7th place. During the playoffs, Ludwigsburg beat Leverkusen 3 games to 1. Both ratiopharm Ulm and Dusseldorf enter Saturday nights game focused for an important win.

ratiopharm Ulm rookie forward Dan Fitzgerald

Dusseldorf features an uptempo attack with excellent perimeter shooting. Head Coach Achim Kuczmann often uses a small-ball attack and spreads the floor with accurate three point shooting. Energizing forward Brant Bailey leads the offensive production with 12.4ppg 4.1reb and 39% three point shooting as a small, perimeter skilled power forward. Sharpshooting Brendan Winters remains a key player for the Giants and produces 11ppg 4.4reb 35% three point shooting. Former Stanford point guard Matt Lottich also averages 11ppg 3reb and 38% three point shooting. Logan Kosmalski has made an impact as a first year post man giving the Giants 7.8ppg 5.9reb with skills in the paint. Athletic wings TJ Carter (8.4ppg 4reb 37%threes) and Fred Peete (5.6ppg 3.1reb 3.1ast 21% threes) add versatility and production on both ends of the floor. Skilled PG Gordon Geib has returned from injury earlier this season and given the Giants attack a boost scoring 7.3ppg on 52% three point shooting in 7 games. Rookie forward Pete Campbell has established himself as one of the premiere three point threats in the Bundesliga averaging 9.6ppg 2.8reb while drilling 46% from beyond the arc. Post player Todd Hendley rounds out the rotation averaging 6.2ppg 2.5reb from the Dusseldorf bench.

ratiopharm Ulm rookie PG Per Gunther

Meanwhile, Ulm's returned to work this week with re-newed focus following last weekend's road loss in Braunschweig. The team's negative was quickly replaced with a positive as pharmaceutical company ratiopharm announced a two year contract extension to remain as main sponsor for the team. Laying the foundation for future success, Ulm management Thomas Stoll and Andi Oettel celebrated a terrific success in working out the extension. With the new arena in plans for 2011, the two year agreement with ratiopharm bridges the two-season timetable prior to the arena as well as having a two year option that will likely keep ratiopharm as the main sponsor for the team as the new arena is ushered into use. Certainly, positive news such as this announcement from ratiopharm helps lay the foundation for the future while stabalizing the present.

Saturday night, ratiopharm Ulm meets their next present challenge in what will likely be an exciting, uptempo game at Sportszentrum Kuhberg.

Follow all the fast breaking ratiopharm Ulm Bundesliga Basketball action this season on Taylorhoops.com!

GO ULM!

MIKE T

TAYLORHOOPS.COM GAME NOTES

A2 TEAMMATES!

Ulm wing Sebastian Betz and Leverkusen point guard Gordon Geib will be opponents Sunday, but this summer the two were teammates playing for their country with the German Junior National team at the World Championships in the Phillipines.

WILDCAT ALUMNI!

Ulm's Captain Emeka Erege takes pride in his Davidson College career. Sudnay, he can speak with another Davidson Alumnus in Leverkusen shooting guard Brendan Winters. Although the two never played together for the outstanding Head Coach Bob McKillop, both have been a big part of the programs success. Unfortunately, Erege will not play as he recovers from his knee injury.

EXTENSION

ratiopharm announced a two year contract extension to remain as main sponsor of ratiopharm Ulm. After several months of negotiation which included the Merckle family tragedy, the positive news was announced mid week in Ulm. A two year agreement with a two year option, the extension will take ratiopharm and Ulm together as teammates up to the new arena which is planned for 2011.

Ulm Roster

Emeka Erege: Ulm captain a positive leader for the team

Romeo Travis: Ulm forward playing excellent basketball this season

Jeff Gibbs: Ulm All Star leads Bundesliga in double-doubles and efficiency

Dru Joyce: Ulm floor general leads Bundesliga in assists (4.5ast)

Sean Finn: Ulm center shooting 67% from the floor

Lee Humphrey: sharpshooter hit 5 of 8 threes in first game v Dusseldorf

Keith Triplett: Ulm guard gives team great boost defensively

Dan Fitzgerald: Ulm rookie a spark for team offensively from bench!

Sebastian Betz: hardworking wing shows consistent improvement

Per Gunther: outstanding young PG 6pt in first game v Dusseldorf

Michael Schroeder: big man providing physical presence in paint!

Head Coach: Mike Taylor

Asst Coach : Rainer Bauer

Location: Dusseldorf, Germany

Main Sponsor:

Home Court: Burg-Wachter-Costello

website: www.giants-duesseldorf.de

2007-2008: 25-9 place 3rd place

Offense: Featuring an uptempo attack, Dusseldorf is an excellent perimeter shooting team and will often use small lineups looking to exploit matchups and outscore opponents. Entering Saturdays game in Ulm, the Giants are currently 3rd in the Bundesliga in three point percentage making 37% from beyond the arc and are 4th in free throw percentage sinking 72.9% from the charity stripe. Playing unselfish, team basketball with skilled shooters, Dusseldorf also ranks third in assists. Never out of a game because of their excellent shooting ability, the Giants are perimeter oriented and fun to watch.

Defense: Coach Achim Kuczmann will mix defenses playing a combination of man to man, zone and changing defenses. Dusseldorf aggressively plays passing lanes and currently ranks 4th in steals and 4th in defensive rebounding at 24.2. The Giants will trap, double the post and change defenses from man to zone to mix up opposing attacks.

GM: Otto Reintjes

Head Coach: Achim Kuczmann

Players:

Brendan Winters: sharpshooting G avg 11ppg with 35% threes

Gordon Geib: skilled PG returned from injury and shooting 52% from 3

Matt Lottich: smart PG avg 11ppg with 38% from three

Brant Bailey: energizing F scores team best 12.4ppg 4.1reb 41% threes

Logan Kosmalski: smart post produces 7.8ppg 5.9reb

Pete Campbell: skilled 3pt shooting F scores 9.6ppg with 46% threes

Fred Peete: athletic versatile perimeter scoring 5.6pt 3.1reb 3.1ast

TJ Carter: hardworking wing scoring 8.4ppg 4reb 37% threes

Todd Hendley: post sub produces 6.2ppg with 2.5reb