We lose to Loko in a «friendly» match

Main team news

19.03.2023

UNICS, in the official status of the second team of the regular season, was defeated with a score of 70:78 by Lokomotiv-Kuban in an away game that did not have the slightest tournament significance for the guests. For three and a half quarters it was impossible to predict the final winner. A spurt of 8:0 at the start of the final ten minutes helped UNICS turn «-5» into «+3» (60:63). However, the end of the match remained for Loko, who ran away to an 8-point distance by the buzzer - 78:70.

Our guys did not make long-range shots at all (only one accurate 3-point attempt out of 17), while the hosts, on the contrary, attacked with high accuracy from behind the arc - 41%.

Jalen REYNOLDS was the best in UNICS, who scored a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds. Daryl MACON added 15 points and 4 rebounds. Anthony BROWN has 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

One of the leaders of Kazan, Louis LABEYRIE, did not take part in the match for medical reasons.

VTB United League. Regular season. 31st round.
Lokomotiv-Kuban (Krasnodar) – UNICS (Kazan) - 78:70 (23:20, 19:23, 18:12, 18:15).
Lokomotiv-Kuban: Jaylen Barford (19 + 5 assists), Zakhar Vedishchev (16), Okaro White (15 + 5 rebounds), Andrey Martyuk (13 + 7 rebounds)
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (25 + 10 rebounds + 2 assists), Daryl Macon (15 + 4 rebounds + 2 assists) Anthony Brown (10 points + 7 rebounds + 4 assists).

POSTGAME COMMENTS:

Velimir PERASOVIC, BC UNICS head coach:

«Congratulations to Lokomotiv-Kuban on the victory. I think the audience likes such matches: open, with a lot of fighting. We wanted to win, but in the last minutes the opponent turned out to be more accurate and more successful. At key moments, we were a little short at the end of the attacks – this was the factor that predetermined the final result. In the 4th quarter, we led, but then we didn't score open shots several times in a row, and missed in response».

Mikhail KULAGIN, BC UNICS guard:

«his is a very disappointing defeat. It is always difficult to play in Krasnodar. Today we alternated good segments with, to put it mildly, inexpressive ones. In addition, our percentage of three-point shots was just terrible».