Vladislav Emchenko: "This is a team victory"

Zenit guard Vladislav Emchenko shared his impressions after the away win over MBA-MAI (83:99) in the 22nd round of the VTB United League regular season.

— Congratulations to everyone on the win! There were a lot of emotions and events. It was important to put everything that happened earlier aside. We didn’t have much time to adjust the lineup or prepare properly, but Max (acting head coach Maxim Uchaykin — Zenit note) said that in this game, tactics would be less important than desire and teamwork on both ends of the court. There were quite a few tactical mistakes, but thanks to our energy and fighting for each other, we managed to win an important game.

— The whole match felt like a rollercoaster. How did you manage to create a significant lead at the end?

— We didn’t change anything; we followed the plan. Everyone wanted to win, but Max said it didn’t matter what the score would be in the end. The main thing was to play as a team and, after the final whistle, be honest with ourselves and do everything we could. We followed the plan, and it worked mostly toward the end of the game. The plan led us to victory.

— Has the atmosphere in the locker room changed after the head coach switch?

— I’ve experienced this before when a coach changed mid-season. Events like this always give the team some kind of impulse. We understood ourselves that there was no room for retreat. The start of the season didn’t go well anyway; things weren’t as we wanted. Today’s game was important primarily for the team’s psychological state. We all responded correctly. Everyone contributed and did their job. This is a team victory.