Rostislav Vergun: "It’s the right moment to start moving forward with quality"
Zenit interim head coach Rostislav Vergun summed up the away game against Moscow’s CSKA (93:90). The Round 23 regular season matchup of the VTB United League was played today on the court of Megasport Arena.
— Probably the key factor was that we defended very poorly in the first half; conceding 60 points is far too many. We’re lacking some structure and clarity on offense. The team has gone through major changes over the course of the season, and obviously that affects the quality of our offensive play. When you score 50 points against the best team in the League, you can’t say that’s very bad. But when you give up 60, it’s hard to count on a result. The fact that we fought is a good sign. Difficult times always help reveal strong people. The team has to find those it can rely on. Club management wants to have the team in optimal condition by the playoffs begin, so now is the right moment to regroup and start moving forward with quality.
— What were the first words you said to the team at the first practice?
— If I’m not mistaken: I’m a team player, and I’m ready to do everything required of me to achieve a result.
— Did the decision to make that pass in the final seconds come from Georgy Zhbanov, or was it your instruction?
— It’s my fault, because I used the last timeout with 13 seconds left and didn’t save it for the very end.
— Did something change in the second half psychologically or tactically?
— I can’t reveal all the secrets. There’s a lot of work ahead. I believe there’s no such thing as a bad defensive system — everyone just has to accept and execute their role as well as possible. We tried to introduce some changes. As practice showed, they weren’t accepted and weren’t executed on the court. Switching throughout the entire game at this level against, once again, the strongest team in the League won’t bring results in the end. We need to find our own path.
— Free-throw shooting hasn’t been great this season, but today it looked better…
— We practiced free throws yesterday. I expected more from Trent today. We lacked his composure and performance. Shooting is an interesting thing. First, you have to understand that when you train your shot, you need to train it at game pace and in game-like conditions. If you’re shooting from a standstill while being guarded by a guard like Ivan Ukhov, for example, it becomes difficult for the ball to go in afterward. We have to reach a point where we improve a little bit in every component, step by step. There’s no other way — there’s no cheating the game.
