Luka Samanic: "I can only be proud of the team and the coach"

Zenit center Luka Samanic shared his thoughts following the away game against Moscow’s CSKA (93:90). In today’s matchup, the Croatian player recorded a double-double and was Zenit’s top scorer with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

— Tough game. It's CSKA, if not the best, second best team in the league. We wanted to win and we have tough circumstances because we just added a coach and we lost a coach. So I think we, for a little period of time we had, I think we did a really good job and we fought today. So, I mean, I cannot be sad with the performance.

— Today there were so many up and downs. Your team has a lot of talented guys. How you can bring together little bit not from the coach part but from the team inside.

— We have injuries, guys are leaving, guys are coming. We just added a center and a point guard. So I think once they arrive to St. Petersburg and with a new coach we have a couple of days to start practicing. And I think it starts with practice. So I think we did a lot of training and, you know, just getting together and bonding.

— There were many tough situations during the game today. Do you usually think about inside yourself that you have to keep your mind cold during the game and not depending on tough situations and other stuff.

— Yes I think sometimes I have a hot temper so when things are going bad I'm the first one to overreact. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's a 40-minute game and not only for myself but for the team not to share any bad energy. So like today we were down I believe 13 or 14 and everybody was more or less calm and we came back and we had a chance to win. So as I said, I can only be proud of the team and the coach.