Luka Samanic: "We really wanted to win today"

Zenit’s center Luka Samanic gave a detailed interview to Zenit TV about how the team’s VTB United League road game against MBA-MAI (83:99) went. In the match, the Croatian player scored 22 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

— Congratulations on the win! This was Maxim Uchaykin’s debut game as interim head coach. How important was it to support him with a result right away?

— Good question. So as a team we came together and said that, you know, since he's stepping up as a head coach we wanted to play super hard. I mean we always want to play hard but especially today because it was his first game as a head coach. We came together and said that we're going to play super hard and get a win for him, for Zenit and that's what we did.

— The team snapped a two-game losing streak, and the game stayed tight throughout. What was the key factor that helped you close it out in the final moments?

— Yes, tough game for us, two-game losing streak and also what happened with the head coach so it was, you know, just a bad situation, but I think we came through. In the second half, we started playing better defense, better rebounding, and then as a team in offense, we started sharing the ball much more, made some good shots. Trent played amazing today, and also Levi scored some really tough shots, and I think them two helped us a lot today in the game.

— It was a very physical game — lots of contact, plenty of fouls, constant trips to the free-throw line. How difficult was it to stay focused in such a stop-and-go rhythm?

— MBA plays really physical, and we knew they're coming into the game, and I think they also lost three games in a row, so important game for them as well. And yeah, it was hard, but we had to stay focused, and we really wanted to win today, and that was the goal today, and we did it.

— At the same time, both teams struggled from the free-throw line tonight. How did you handle that internally — did you try not to dwell on it and just keep playing?

— Yeah, I also struggled on free-throw line. I think I missed four free-throws and as a team we missed a couple more. So but you can't let it affect the game and we always say whatever happens just next play mentality and Max, head coach also helped us with that today. So it's been really fun today

— Earlier today, two Zenit Basketball Academy teams got wins over peers from MBA-MAI. It felt like the first team carried on that momentum. Did you sense that shared wave within the club?

— Yes really happy that we got the win and that also the Basket Academy also got a win today against the same opponent. That's really nice.

— How important is a hard-earned win like this for the team’s confidence at this stage of the season?

— Really important and we knew that coming into today's game we lost two as I said and we knew we had to win today especially for CSKA on Saturday and the upcoming games at home. And not knowing who the coach is and you know we have to stick together even more now and support Max the way he's supporting us and also the whole staff. It's really important for us.

Thank you fans for coming to the today game and always coming to the home games, away games. Whenever we travel there's fans and we really appreciate it. I hope to see you on the game against CSKA.