"We had crazy motivation": Popovic and Aksenov on the victory in Vladivostok

Zenit-2 guard Daniil Aksenov shared his emotions after the away victory over Vladivostok's Dynamo (75:92).

— Last season, you played a key role in Dynamo's championship run. What was your mindset heading into Vladivostok? How would you summarize this tough match?

— This was the first time in my career that I traveled on the day of a game. We arrived at 7 a.m. today. I thought it would be difficult, but in reality, it's actually easier to get focused when you arrive on game day: you sleep in the morning, have lunch, and then get straight to it. As for the atmosphere and our mindset — after Eduard Mikhailovich's interview and the signing of three new players, everyone understood that our opponent had significantly strengthened their squad.

For us, that was also a source of motivation because, in reality, most of our players are 19-20 years old. Only two of us, myself and Elkhan Akhmedov, have more experience. So we had crazy motivation — we really wanted to extend our small winning streak, hold on to our place in the standings, and maybe even move higher. You could see today how much that motivation, along with the energy from the fans, helped us. Everyone says it’s great to play here. Not every arena has such an atmosphere. I can’t even remember anything like this in the Super League. I’d like to give a special thanks to the fans for the warm welcome. I remember everything — it’s really nice to come back here because this place feels like my second home. I enjoyed both the atmosphere and the game itself.

Zenit-2 head coach Oliver Popovic also commented on the match

— What are your impressions of the game in Vladivostok? It was the key matchup of the round.

— First of all, I’m very happy because I’ve never been to Vladivostok before. It’s a great arena with an amazing atmosphere. In the first half, we had huge problems with offensive rebounding — Dynamo grabbed 14 offensive boards. I think that’s why the score was even. But after halftime, they managed only four offensive rebounds, we controlled the situation, and we deservedly won.

— Pavel Zemskiy was outstanding today.

— Actually, Pavel doesn’t train with us regularly. He spends most of his time with the main team, which makes things challenging. But before this, he trained well with us. Today, we were without Dulkay and Krivyh, who are both injured — I’m not sure when they’ll return. Pavel always plays well, and he’s proving that we should seriously count on him next season.