UTENA, Lithuania (Interstat) — Lietuvos rytas will visit Juventus on Sunday at Utena Arena in Utena, Lithuania, with both teams looking to build momentum in the early portion of their schedules. Lietuvos rytas enters at 4-2, while Juventus is 4-4. The game is a matchup of teams with similar records but different recent trajectories, and it will be played on Juventus’s home floor.

Lietuvos rytas has won two of its last three games, including a 79-71 road victory over Taurages in its most recent outing. Arturas Gudaitis had 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks in that win, while Ricardo Lindo added 13 points and nine rebounds and Cassius Winston chipped in 11 points and eight assists. Gudaitis is the player to watch for Lietuvos rytas. In his previous three appearances, he has scored 13 points with four rebounds and three blocks, 13 points with three rebounds, and 10 points with 13 rebounds. His inside presence and rebounding will be central to Lietuvos rytas’s approach.

Juventus also enters after a close win, having edged Reggiana 76-75 in its most recent game. Laurynas Beliauskas is the player to watch for Juventus. He had 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one block in that victory. Jack Pagenkopf added 11 points and eight assists, and Cameron Reynolds scored 13 points. Beliauskas has been productive across his recent appearances, with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists in one game and eight points and six rebounds in another. His scoring and all-around play will be important against a Lietuvos rytas team that has shown the ability to score efficiently.

The matchup features Lietuvos rytas’s balanced attack against Juventus’s home-court advantage. Lietuvos rytas has scored 95 points in a win over Šiauliai and 86 in a win over Neptūnas, but it also allowed 105 points in a loss to Gargzdu Gargzdai. Juventus has reached 100 points in a win over Gargzdu Gargzdai and 94 in a win over Kedainiai Nevezis, while also struggling defensively in a loss to Unicaja. Lietuvos rytas has scored at least 79 points in five of its six games this season, while Juventus has topped 90 points in three of its eight games. The teams will meet again later in the schedule, but the first meeting should offer an early measure of form.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a final score of Juventus 84, Lietuvos rytas 75. Interstat’s ELO system projects Lietuvos rytas with a 55.6 percent probability to win. Lietuvos rytas has been installed as the pregame favorite with a spread of -4.5, and the over/under for the game is 176.5.