"We made a lot of mistakes in the second half": Popovic and Kasyanov on the match against Yugra

Zenit-2 head coach Oliver Popovic summed up the first game of 1/8 finals of the Gazprombank Russian Cup against Yugra. The match took place in Surgut and ended with a home side win, 89:83.

— The course of the game was determined by the end of the second quarter, where we completely lost focus. It should have ended with a 10-12 point advantage for us, maybe even more, but it finished at only +4. And then the start of the third quarter, when we didn’t defend at all. Basically, we didn’t defend in the second half at all. Conceding 49 points is far too many. In the second half, we had 10 turnovers, compared to only 5 in the first half, so that is 100% the reason for the loss. We are playing against an experienced team; you can’t relax—you have to stay focused for 40 minutes. Today, in the second half, we almost didn’t do that. We’ll see: the series is now 0-1, the difference is 6 points, so I hope we’ll play better at home and try to reach the quarterfinals.

Zenit-2 forward Ivan Kasyanov also commented on the match:

— The opponent played a good game. As for us, we made a lot of mistakes in the second half. Our play today was rather uncoordinated, but I think at home we will fight, try to win, and advance further.