Dejan Radonjić: "Different approach was from the beginning"
Zenit head coach Dejan Radonjić summed up the victory in the VTB United League match against Uralmash and answered journalists’ questions at the press conference. The away game against the Yekaterinburg team ended with a score of 60:78 in favor of the Blue-White-Sky Blues.
— Congrats to my players for this win and for this game. It was totally different game than what we did in the last game. Different approach was from the beginning. Defensively, we did a lot of good things. We talked a lot during the last week. So even with this 21% for three points, we control the game for 40 minutes. I can be satisfied with this approach, with the energy and with focus. We need to continue like this.
— You have been working in Russia for almost a month now. How has this period gone?
— I'm here less than one month so I don't think so it's enough to understand everything and to see everything because it's fifth game, including two times against Uralmash. Well I saw a lot of games. I know a lot of players, coaches. In my past, I was here in Russia, I don't know how many times, a lot of games. So I need to see more, to have some kind of more precise opinion about everything. What I saw so far, it's very interesting. You can see good teams, good players, good coaches, fans. So we'll see in the future, but it will be exciting for sure.
— Did you consult with Rostislav Vergun before this game?
— So of course he spent over here a few years and then of course and he's part of my stuff. We talked a lot, all of us, every day. It's always important to have good guys around you.
— Today Zenit showed aggressive basketball, especially on defense. The team played tough from the very start. Was this a tactic specifically for this game, or do you want to see this aggressive approach throughout the season?
— First of all I would like to say that we analyzed the last game. We didn't play well defensively, did so many mistakes. We were very soft, our focus was not good. So defensively it was totally different game than today. Of course that I would like to see my team to play very aggressive, to play good defense. I know that it will be very important for us to be defensively quite good but at the same time you have to be good enough offensively to build a good result.
