Andrey Vorontsevich: "Right now, a lot of responsibility lies on all of us"

Zenit forward Andrey Vorontsevich commented on the home defeat against UNICS (72:91). The match against the Kazan team took place as part of the group stage of the WINLINE Basket Cup.

— In the first minutes of the game, the opponent immediately surged ahead. What did you lack at the start? Concentration, the right mindset?

— Yes, probably we lacked a bit of everything. When you lose, a lot of things are missing, so… Overall, we prepared normally; everyone knew about the opponent. Naturally, our roster is small, and not all the guys, unfortunately, are healthy. There are many factors here, really, and I think the first, of course, is concentration. And we made mistakes that professionals usually shouldn’t make. Nevertheless, we played against a strong opponent. But of course, that doesn’t diminish our loss. In the first half, we held on. Even with that rough start, we managed the first half reasonably well, leaving the court at halftime without a big gap.

— How much do factors like two losses and a large number of injured players affect the team?

— Of course, it puts a lot of pressure on the guys who, God bless them, continue to work. It really affects us a lot because everyone has to work together. Naturally, the guys who are out contribute a lot. But still, we understand that those of us who are left need to make more effort. So there is pressure, and of course, some shortcomings. Considering how we prepared, we had to take on bigger minutes. The same goes for Neno, Levi — they’re missed, as well as Roberson… In general, we wish everyone health and hope they recover soon. Naturally, they carried a lot of responsibility, but now the responsibility lies on all of us, and many of us definitely need to step up. No matter how it sounds, this is still a big responsibility, and it has to be taken on. So it’s the perfect time for those who haven’t played much before to show themselves to a greater extent.