2019–20 British Basketball League season

2019–20 BBL season
League British Basketball League
Season 2019–20
Number of games 73
Number of teams 12
Regular season
League champions No champions declared
BBL Cup Worcester Wolves (1st title)
BBL Trophy Newcastle Eagles (7th title)
Statistical leaders
Points
  • C. J. Gettys (Eagles)
  • (24.7 PPG)
Rebounds
  • C. J. Gettys (Eagles)
  • (13.2 RPG)
Assists
Records
Highest scoring
  • 213 points
  • Plymouth Raiders 103–110 Newcastle Eagles
  • (8 December 2019)
Winning streak
  • 6 games
  • Leicester Riders
  • (17 January – 29 February 2020)
  • Glasgow Rocks
  • (7 February – 14 March 2020)
Losing streak
  • 13 games
  • Manchester Giants
  • (8 December 2019 – 13 March 2020)

The 2019–20 BBL season was the 33rd campaign of the British Basketball League, the top British professional basketball league, since its in 1987. The season featured 12 teams from across England and Scotland. On 17 March 2020, the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. On 1 June 2020, the season was cancelled, with no League or Playoffs champions declared.

Changes to format

The 2019–20 season saw a significantly revamped format for the first time in a number of years.

The newly-formatted BBL Cup began the 2019–20 season in September, with group stages (2 geographical groups, North and South, of 6 teams each) to determine 8 teams to progress to the Quarter-finals. Single-legged quarter finals and two-legged semi finals matches would determine the two finalists to contest the Cup final.

The Championship would run from December to April. All 12 teams were to play each other twice, once home once away, for a 22-game regular season (as opposed to previous years where teams would play each other 3 times for a 33-game regular season). The top 8 teams would qualify for the end of season Playoffs.

The Playoffs were due to run from April to May and for the first time in 21 years were due to be determined over a best-of-three series. The Playoffs Final would once again be held at the O2 Arena, London.

Teams

Arenas and locations

Team City Arena Capacity
Bristol Flyers Bristol SGS WISE Arena
750
Cheshire Phoenix Ellesmere Port Cheshire Oaks Arena
1,400
Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks Glasgow Emirates Arena
1,650
Leicester Riders Leicester Morningside Arena
2,400
London City Royals London Crystal Palace NSC
1,500
London Lions London Copper Box
7,000
Manchester Giants Manchester George H. Carnall Centre
750
Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Eagles Community Arena
3,000
Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Plymouth Pavilions
1,500
B.Braun Sheffield Sharks Sheffield Ponds Forge
1,000
Surrey Scorchers Guildford Surrey Sports Park
1,000
Worcester Wolves Worcester University of Worcester Arena
2,000

Personnel and sponsorship

Team Head coach Captain Main jersey sponsor
Bristol Flyers Andreas Kapoulas Daniel Edozie Toogood International
Cheshire Phoenix Ben Thomas Momčilo Latinović Hillyer McKeown
Radisson RED Glasgow Rocks Vincent Lavandier Gareth Murray Carling
Leicester Riders Rob Paternostro Andrew Thomson Jelson Homes
London City Royals Lloyd Gardner Orlan Jackman
London Lions Vince Macaulay Joe Ikhinmwin ASOS
Manchester Giants Danny Byrne Callum Jones Space
Newcastle Eagles Ian McLeod Rahmon Fletcher ESH Group
Plymouth Raiders Paul James Josh Wilcher
B.Braun Sheffield Sharks Atiba Lyons Mike Tuck B.Braun
Surrey Scorchers Creon Raftopoulos Tayo Ogedengbe Gidden Place
Worcester Wolves Matthew Newby Maarten Bouwknecht University of Worcester

Coaching changes

Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming coach Date of appointment
Worcester Wolves Tony Garbelotto End of Interim 1 May 2019 Pre-season Matthew Newby 22 July 2019
London City Royals Jay Williams Released 12 August 2019 Pre-season Lloyd Gardner 16 August 2019
Newcastle Eagles Fabulous Flournoy Signed by Toronto Raptors 3 September 2019 Pre-season Ian McLeod 6 September 2019

BBL Cup

The newly-formatted BBL Cup began the 2019–20 season on Friday 20 September, with the group stages running until Sunday 24 November. The 12 teams were split into 2 geographical groups, North and South. Each team played each other twice (once home, once away) with the top 4 teams in each group progressing to the Quarter-finals. Single-legged quarter finals and two-legged semi finals matches determined the two finalists to contest the Cup final on Sunday 26 January at the Arena Birmingham.

Qualification Stage

North Group

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification LEI SHE NEW CHE GLA MAN
1 Leicester Riders 10 7 3 812 676 +136 Qualification to quarter finals — 75–54 86–94 58–66 93–58 102–70
2 Sheffield Sharks 10 7 3 804 723 +81 79–63 — 93–69 75–60 84–68 95–61
3 Newcastle Eagles 10 6 4 868 794 +74 69–76 80–83 — 97–68 71–73 104–71
4 Cheshire Phoenix 10 5 5 755 786 −31 63–75 76–72 92–100 — 78–88 96–85
5 Glasgow Rocks 10 4 6 719 764 −45 66–88 101–81 86–90 72–74 — 107–85
6 Manchester Giants 10 1 9 649 864 −215 57–96 70–88 66–94 64–82 20–0 —
Source: http://www.bbl.org.uk/

South Group

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification LCR WOR BRI LON SUR PLY
1 London City Royals 10 8 2 860 793 +67 Qualification to quarter finals — 77–64 84–57 92–77 92–84 101–92
2 Worcester Wolves 10 6 4 798 798 0 65–67 — 74–70 92–67 77–78 104–100
3 Bristol Flyers 10 6 4 835 837 −2 85–75 94–96 — 97–94 107–99 92–72
4 London Lions 10 5 5 892 872 +20 100–99 85–90 103–69 — 98–87 101–86
5 Surrey Scorchers 10 3 7 829 862 −33 82–84 77–83 64–71 80–77 — 87–77
6 Plymouth Raiders 10 2 8 849 901 −52 87–89 83–53 76–93 80–90 96–91 —
Source: http://www.bbl.org.uk/

Quarter-finals

29 November 2019
Leicester Riders 72–63 London Lions
29 November 2019
Worcester Wolves 90–86 Newcastle Eagles
1 December 2019
London City Royals 100–82 Cheshire Phoenix
1 December 2019
Sheffield Sharks 58–81 Bristol Flyers

Semi-finals

13 December 2019
Worcester Wolves 63–66 Leicester Riders
3 January 2020
Leicester Riders 71–83 Worcester Wolves
Worcester win 146–137 on aggregate
13 December 2019
London City Royals 82–84 Bristol Flyers
21 December 2019
Bristol Flyers 91–77 London City Royals
Bristol win 175–159 on aggregate

Final

26 January 2020
Bristol Flyers 59–67 Worcester Wolves
Scoring by quarter: 12–16, 13–18, 18–13, 16–20
Pts: Gentrey Thomas (13)
Rebs: Daniel Edozie (10)
Asts: Chris Taylor (4)		 Pts: Amir Williams (23)
Rebs: Amir Williams (13)
Asts: Maarten Bouwknecht (7)
Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
Attendance: 9,244

BBL Championship

The BBL Championship ran from Friday 6 December – Tuesday 17 March. All 12 teams were scheduled to play each other twice, once home once away, for a 22-game regular season. On 24 January 2020, London City Royals withdrew from the league, and their 1–3 record was expunged.

On 17 March 2020, the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. On 1 June 2020, the season was cancelled, with no League or Playoffs champions declared.

Standings

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 Glasgow Rocks 15 12 3 1275 1089 +186 24
2 London Lions 14 10 4 1280 1159 +121 20 Basketball Champions League qualifying rounds
3 Worcester Wolves 14 9 5 1173 1106 +67 18
4 Leicester Riders 12 8 4 1048 975 +73 16
5 Cheshire Phoenix 13 7 6 1079 1060 +19 14
6 Newcastle Eagles 13 7 6 1147 1119 +28 14
7 Sheffield Sharks 13 7 6 1060 1060 0 14
8 Bristol Flyers 12 5 7 937 992 −55 10
9 Surrey Scorchers 14 5 9 1243 1340 −97 10
10 Plymouth Raiders 13 3 10 1098 1185 −87 6
11 Manchester Giants 13 0 13 1003 1258 −255 0
12 London City Royals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew from the league
Source: BBC Sport

Results

Home \ Away BRI CHE GLA LEI LON MAN NEW PLY SHE SUR WOR
Bristol Flyers 98–94 71–89 73–69 66–75 87–71 71–85 81–66
Cheshire Phoenix 71–87 95–91 99–88 97–64 83–78
Glasgow Rocks 94–55 79–67 92–53 76–80 67–76 98–61 102–81 91–86
Leicester Riders 70–71 83–76 105–82 101–63 97–79 87–80 91–87
London Lions 99–88 94–78 88–72 99–65 87–79 107–98
Manchester Giants 69–77 73–103 81–97 90–96 87–106 76–79
Newcastle Eagles 70–88 108–97 131–63 76–99 91–78 79–95
Plymouth Raiders 69–75 74–77 82–86 74–90 82–91 103–110 111–82
Sheffield Sharks 86–91 92–80 67–66 81–76 76–69
Surrey Scorchers 93–87 89–88 79–95 96–99 101–95 94–90 94–104 107–97
Worcester Wolves 88–85 79–65 69–76 80–78 77–72 116–91 89–70 93–75
Source: bbl.org.uk
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.

Playoffs

The BBL Playoffs were due to run from Friday 24 April – Sunday 17 May, with the final to be held at the O2 Arena, London. The top 8 teams from the regular season of the BBL Championship would have contested the Playoffs, which for the first time in 21 years were to be determined over a best-of-three series.

BBL Trophy

The BBL Trophy retained the same format as introduced in the 2018–19 season. The twelve BBL teams were joined in the first round draw by four invited teams; Solent Kestrels and Worthing Thunder from the English Basketball League, Dunfermline Reign from the Scottish Basketball Championship and Basketball Wales. There was an open draw to form a bracket, mapping out each team's path to the final which was held, for the 8th consecutive year, at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

First round

3 January 2020
Newcastle Eagles 133–61 Dunfermline Reign
3 January 2020
Plymouth Raiders 62–71 Sheffield Sharks
4 January 2020
London Lions 82–92 Solent Kestrels
5 January 2020
Surrey Scorchers 83–102 London City Royals
5 January 2020
Glasgow Rocks 97–34 Basketball Wales
5 January 2020
Manchester Giants 84–88 Worthing Thunder
George H. Carnall Centre, Manchester
5 January 2020
Cheshire Phoenix 88–69 Worcester Wolves
10 January 2020
Bristol Flyers 95–82 Leicester Riders

Quarter-finals

19 January 2020
Glasgow Rocks 90–92 (2OT) Cheshire Phoenix
24 January 2020
Newcastle Eagles 86–79 Sheffield Sharks
25 January 2020
Worthing Thunder 81–94 Solent Kestrels
Worthing Leisure Centre, Worthing
London City Royals P–P Bristol Flyers

Semi-finals

9 February 2020
Cheshire Phoenix 79–88 Newcastle Eagles
1 March 2020
Newcastle Eagles 67–75 Cheshire Phoenix
Newcastle win 155–154 on aggregate
12 February 2020
Solent Kestrels 103–67 Bristol Flyers
16 February 2020
Bristol Flyers 92–73 Solent Kestrels
Solent Kestrels win 176–159 on aggregate

Final

15 March 2020
3:30 pm
Newcastle Eagles 96–94 (OT) Solent Kestrels
Scoring by quarter: 22–22, 24–23, 31–20, 10–22, Overtime: 9–7
Pts: Rahmon Fletcher (29)
Rebs: Cj Gettys (17)
Asts: Cj Gettys (7)		 Pts: Elliott Sentance (26)
Rebs: Travis Charles (10)
Asts: Elliot Dadds (8)
Emirates Arena, Glasgow
Attendance: 1,000

British clubs in European competitions

No British clubs participated in European competition for the 2019–20 season. Leicester and London both declined their invitations from FIBA.