UNICS defeated Zenit at home in the Game of the Week – 64:61 (14:16, 14:19, 20:12, 16:14)

Game porgress
The reigning United League champion hosted the SuperCup 2023 winner in the Game of the Week. The teams are close to each other in the standings and shared second and third places with 16 wins in 22 games. The game promised to be tense – the teams tried more to avoid mistakes than to run on offense. In the first quarter, the rivals scored only 30 points combined.

The St. Petersburg team maganed to get an 8-point lead after Adrien Moerman and Sergey Karasev three-pointers in the second quarter. By halftime, the guests had the lead – 35:28.

Zenit increased the lead to 9 points at the start of the second half, but couldn’t develop it. Louis Labeyrie three-pointers allowed UNICS to get back into the game, and the French bigman three-pointer with a minute left in the quarter gave the Kazan team a lead – 46:45.

Key moment
The decisive quarter didn’t start well for Zenit: Dmitry Kulagin started, then Erick Green and Nenad Dimitrijevic continued UNICS’ 8-0 run. The hosts had a good chances to win the game. However, Xavier Pascual team didn’t even think about giving up – the guests made a comeback with Trent Frazier help. The Kazan team had only a 1-point lead a minute before the end – 62:61.

The last minute of the game lasted a long time. UNICS couldn’t increase the lead, and Zenit couldn’t change the situation at all. Only a second before the end, Labeyrie almost eliminated all questions – 64:61. The only chance for at least overtime was a shot from the other half, but Karasev missed the shot. UNICS won its 23rd game and surpassed Zenit.

X-factor
Zenit outperformed thei opponents in many important stats – rebounds, steals and less fouls, but lost made shots from the game (42.6% versus 36.4%). At the same time, Zenit showed trademark defense – UNICS scored 64 points with an average 86.3 points per game.

Fact
Vince Hunter returned to Kazan for the first time since moving from UNICS to Zenit. In the game against his former team, the center made his second double-double of the season.

Leaders
UNICS: Dmitry Kulagin (13), Louis Labeyrie (12 + 5 rebounds), Nenad Dimitrijevic (11 + 8 rebounds + 7 assists), Marcos Knight (11), Jalen Reynolds (10 + 5 rebounds), Ismael Bako (0 + 9 rebounds).
Zenit: Vince Hunter (14 + 10 rebounds), Trent Frazier (10 + 5 assists), Bojan Dubljevic (6 + 9 rebounds), Thomas Heurtel (9 + 6 assists).

What’s next
UNICS (23-16): January 23 on the road against MBA
Zenit (22-17): January 25 at home versus Runa