UNICS – is the best team of the regular season-2023/24!

Main team news

13.04.2024

BC UNICS Kazan, with the deafening support of native fans, prevailed for the third time in a row over the most titled Russian club – CSKA Moscow with a score of 88:78, becoming the best team of the VTB United League regular season for the first time in the club's history!

The main hero of the decisive game was Neno DIMITRIJEVIC, who set two personal records at once – in terms of performance (40 points) and effectiveness (52). Jalen REYNOLDS shipped 22 points to the opponent's basket, adding 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Erick GREEN has 12 more points.

The Army team ran away to «+9» 2:38 before the end of the opening quarter. However, a powerful spurt by the reigning champions 17- 4 put the hosts ahead 38:36 in the middle of the second period. At the start of the third ten minutes, Kazan let CSKA get to a dangerous distance – 47:46 after a free throws by Melo TRIMBLE, but again showed character, making a 12-2 run and achieving maximum advantage during the match – 59:48.

In the final period, CSKA made desperate attempts to save the game, getting close to UNICS by 4 points (69:65). However, Velimir PERASOVIC's team, on the courage and with the incredible support of the home stands, ran away again to «+11» (86:75) and brought it to a bright and convincing victory – 88:78!

UNICS (Kazan) – CSKA (Moscow) – 88:78 (21:27, 24:14, 19:21, 24:16).
UNICS: Dimitrijevic (40 + 9 assists + 6 rebounds + 2 steals), Reynolds (22 + 5 rebounds + 2 assists), Green (12 + 2 rebounds).
CSKA: Trimble (21 + 6 assists), Astapkovich (14 + 3), Jean-Charles (14 + 7 rebounds).

POST-MATCH COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«As we expected, the match for the first place in the regular season turned out to be extremely difficult. I would like to emphasize that for UNICS, the victory at this stage of the season was the first in the history of the tournament. I congratulate my players, the president of the club, Evgeny Bogachev, his family, as well as the staff. This is a great success.

I would also like to mention Neno Dimitrijevic, who scored 40 points and set a personal performance record, as well as Jalen Reynolds. Today we got the win over CSKA, largely due to their outstanding offensive play.

At the same time, we understand that we are not in the best moment right now. Several of our basketball players are still recovering from injuries. In addition, we have added newcomers who are not in shape we want. We plan to work hard over the next week. We expect the injured players to return to the ranks, and the team will play better».

Neno DIMITRIJEVIC, BC UNICS guard:

«A great result for us! We fought selflessly throughout the season to finish the regular season in 1st place. I am happy for the team and glad to be a part of the historic success of UNICS.

I think the victory over CSKA is deserved, because we played great both offensively and defensively. In addition, we stopped the opponent on the offensive rebound, which was the key reason for success. The whole team did a great job and I felt great during the game.

How did I manage to score 40 points? You know, my priority is helping my partners. We came to the game with CSKA with a series of 3 lost matches in a row, so the game against moscow team was the culmination. Before the playoffs, it was especially important for us to finish in the regular season on a positive note. It's great that we succeeded! Now UNICS has secured home-court advantage at all stages of the decisive series».

Emil RAJKOVIC, PBC CSKA head coach:

«Congratulations to UNICS on the victory. Today, the Kazan team was more precise in realization. They scored a lot of difficult goals, including in a one-on-one situation. In addition, the hosts were accurate in 12 of 29 three-point attempts (at 41%), while CSKA realized only 6 of 28. This is one of the reasons for our defeat. However, I cannot blame my players for their lack of hard work. They fought, tried to show the best game, but made mistakes and were not effective enough in this match».