UNICS defeated Samara on the road – 93:73 (20:26, 27:13, 24:17, 22:17).
Game progress
The hosts surprised the opponent with zone defense from the very first minutes. The surprise effect worked perfectly. Samara slowed down UNICS’s offense, while hosts ran well and scored many easy points in transitions. At the start of the second quarter, Samara lead reached 8 points – 28:20.
But gradually, the guests adapted to Samara’s zone defense. Aggressive play by Bingham and Reynolds and three-pointers allowed the Kazan team to take the initiative and the lead in the game. UNICS got an 8-point lead by halftime – 47:39.
Key moment
The guests began decisive run at the end of the third quarter. Marcus Bingham set the tone. The Kazan team scored 17 points in a row and took a 26-point lead – 82:56.
Samara played more actively at the end of the game. But their efforts were only enough to slightly reduce the deficit.
X-factor
Three-pointers were the key against Samara’s zone defense. The guests made 15 of 35 long range shots (42.9%).
Facts
UNICS’ winning streak has now reached 10 games. This is the best streak for Kazan team since February last year, when UNICS had 16 consecutive wins (team’s all-time high). Samara currently has the longest losing streak at the moment – 5 consecutive losses.
Leaders
Samara: Evgeny Minchenko (20 + 5 rebounds), Nikita Mikhailovskii (15 + 8 rebounds), Danila Pokhodiaev (12), Andrey Savrasov (11)
UNICS: Jalen Reynolds (22 + 11 rebounds), Marcus Bingham (21 + 8 rebounds), Alexey Shved (12 + 6 assists), Andrey Lopatin (10), Mikhail Belenitskii (10 + 5 rebounds)
What’s next
Samara: January 25 on the road versus Lokomotiv Kuban
UNICS: January 24 at home against Pari NN.
