The third victory in a row and the second place at the end of the first stage

Main team news

27.01.2024

UNICS won a confident victory over Avtodor Saratov (89:71) on the home court of Basket Hall, largely thanks to the inspired play of Neno DIMITRIJEVIC, who updated his personal performance record in the VTB United League. 35 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals - in the active of the North Macedonian guard of the team.

The key to success was the third ten-minute match, which Velimir Perasovic's team won with a score of 22:9. 2:24 before the final siren, the white-green lead was the maximum «+20» after Marcos KNIGHT's throw in a fast break (85:65).

The hosts outperformed the guests in all key statistical indicators: on rebounds (46 against 38), on assists (19 to 15), and also committed fewer losses (10 to 11). In addition, the Kazan team demonstrated composure, with a similar number of shots from the free throw line (29 attempts each), realizing 26 accurately on target (90%) against only 13 from the opponent (45%).

UNICS gets its third victory in a row and guarantees itself 2nd place in the standings one round before the end of the first stage of the regular season.

UNICS (Kazan) – Avtodor (Saratov) – 89:71 (16:20, 28:21, 22:9, 23:21).
UNICS: Dimitrijevic (35 + 6 rebounds + 6 assists + 4 steals), Bako (17 + 6 assists), Knight (10 + 4 rebounds), Reynolds (10 + 3 rebounds + 3 assists).
Avtodor: Beslac (23 + 11 rebounds), Mavra (13 + 3 assists), Newman ( 9 + 4 rebounds), Khaldeev (8 + 5 rebounds).

POST-MATCH COMMENT:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Obviously, we didn't demonstrate our best game today. I explain this by the fact that we were up against a very serious team that added the new players and now can beat anyone in the league. We are planning to analyze the unsuccessful segments. The second half was much better for us. After a long break, we came out with the patience and intensity. The players who did not play well enough at the beginning of the meeting were transformed after the break. However, only Neno Dimitrijevic, who showed the best game of the season today, and Ismael Bako, who played well at the start of the match, are not enough for us. I will also mention Louis Labeyrie and Marcos Knight in the second half, who always does the job in defense, as well as on the rebound. I think the rest of our guys should be more competitive. In addition, Vyacheslav Zaitcev and Artem Komolov dropped out of the rotation, which is a problem for us».