On the 5th of November 1980, Nikos Galis "introduced himself" to the European fans by making his debut in the Korac Cup. And what a debut it was!  56 points against Hungarian Mavak in Budapest, followed by another 41 points in the rematch at the Palais.

Aside from the fact that victories away from home were rare for Greek teams at the time, the 56-point record was even rarer. Especially when playing against teams from the former Eastern Block due to their great athletic tradition, Greek successes could be counted on one's fingers. The Aris of the smiling, as you can see in the photo, Dušan Ivković won with a score of 90 - 97 in this very productive night on the 5th of November.

In any case Nikos Galis' European career got off to an impressive start and was indicative of what European basketball fans would see next! Nick's teammates in that game were: Paramanidis (10p) Ananiadis (9p) Romanidis (2p) Hallopoulos, Nastos (8p) Stylianou (12p) Spartalis.

The incredible statistical fact is that these 56 points were not Galis' record for that season, as he scored 61 and 62 points in the Greek league in home games, while his European average in the Korac Cup was 44.2 points.

And if Nikos Galis replied when asked today that he doesn't even remember the Hungarian court, it is certain that those who marked him for the Mavak team hardly ever forgot the Greek superscorer!

Source : www.aris.re / Vasilis Dermetzoglou