Taking away the victory from Saratov

Main team news

29.10.2023

UNICS returned to the winning path, beating Avtodor away with a double-digit difference – 82:72. The success of the Kazan team was predetermined by the inspired play of the American white-green tandem in the person of Jalen REYNOLDS (27 points at 4/5 from behind the arc, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots) and Marcos KNIGHT (22 + 4 rebounds + 4 steals).

Velimir Perasovic's team defended aggressively from the first minutes, forcing Avtodor to make twice as many turnovers (12 to 6) and allowing Saratov to realize only 4 three-point shots out of 15 (27%) in 40 minutes. The key was the spurt of our guys 9:0 at the start of the second half, which increased the advantage of the guests to «+13» (34:49) and helped to bring the match to victory without nerves.

Avtodor (Saratov) – UNICS (Kazan) – 72:82 (17:20, 17:20, 17:21, 21:21).
UNICS: Reynolds (27+ 6 rebounds + 3 assists + 2 steals), Knight (22 + 4 rebounds + 4 steals), Dimitrijevic (8 + 7 assists + 5 rebounds), Kulagin ( 6 + 5 assists + 2 rebounds), Labeyrie (6 + 2 rebounds).
Avtodor: Hammonds (22 + 6 rebounds), Thornwell (20 + 6 rebounds), Mavra (11 + 6 rebounds + 9 assists).

Kazan will hold the next match on the floor of the Kazan Basket Hall against the champion of Kazakhstan Astana on Thursday, November 2 at 19:00.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Despite the victory, I think that today we did not show our best basketball. This is probably due to the fact that some players have only recently returned from injuries. Nevertheless, we tried and fought. We had good moments, and for the entire 40 minutes we controlled the course of the match. UNICS is still at the beginning of the road. I am sure that we will improve from game to game».