UNICS beat Avtodor in Saratov – 86:68 (23:15, 19:17, 19:17, 25:19).
Game progress
UNICS showed a serious attitude pretty quickly. The Kazan team played good defense and had offensive game plan: the guests had poor three-point shooting (26.7%), but made good amount of two-pointers (57.9% vs. 28.6% by the Saratov team). UNICS rotation played an important role. Avtodor bench scored only 2 points in the first half, while UNICS totaled 22. At the end of 20 minutes, the guests had a double-digit lead – 42:32.
Key moment
Avtodor held off the guests in the third quarter, but then the hosts lacked of rotation. At the decisive moment, UNICS made a 21:4 run and eliminated any questions about the winner.
The Kazan team got the 13th win of the season and remain the 4th place in the standings.
X-factor
UNICS second five – Jalen Reynolds, Dmitry Kulagin, Marcos Knight and Ismael Bako, outscored the Saratov team rotation 54:19.
Facts
Velimir Perasovic earned his 100th win in the League. He became only the 6th coach in history to reach this milestone with one team. Previously, Dimitris Itoudis, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Xavier Pascual, Zoran Lukic and Vasily Karasev managed to achieve it.
For Avtodor it was the 300th game in the League. The Saratov team has been playing in the VTB League since 2014.
The rivalry history score is 22-2, UNICS leads. Both wins the Saratov team got at home, the last one was on October 2021.
Leaders
Avtodor: Dusan Beslac (18 + 6 rebounds), Dmitry Khaldeyev (14), Bryant Crawford (11 + 5 assists).
UNICS: Artem Komolov (14), Tony Taylor (12 + 5 assists), Ismael Bako (10 + 12 rebounds).
What’s next
Avtodor: December 14 at home versus Samara
UNICS: December 15 at home against Pari NN.
