Dmitry UzinskIy: "At the right moment, we approached with a cool head"
Zenit forward Dmitry Uzinsky commented on the road victory over UNICS (75:82) in the 30th round of the VTB United League regular season.
— Dmitry, how did the match go? What was the key factor in the victory?
— First of all, I want to congratulate our fans, the team, and the management for finally beating a top-4 team. Not just Lokomotiv, now UNICS. I think it was the aggression on defense that gave us momentum, and from that, we felt the game. Then we scored some points, broke away, scored while playing as a team, helping each other. That aggression — that was the key factor.
— Can we say that the victory was secured in the third quarter? What happened there that made it so decisive? Did you perhaps change your style of play?
— In the first and second quarters, we allowed UNICS some easy shots. In the second half, we came out aggressively, defended aggressively several times, showed that we wouldn’t let go of the game, and kept pushing. And towards the end, things got a bit chaotic, maybe some nervousness. But we brought the game to the finish, and I congratulate everyone on that.
— In the beginning, UNICS got ahead on the scoreboard. What caught you by surprise?
— We expected everything and prepared for it. Maybe the break affected us — we hadn’t played in a while. But then we got a good feel for the focus and got into the game. The main thing is that we won. Now all thoughts are on the next home game.
— Before the fourth quarter, Zenit had a "+19" lead. Was it difficult to maintain concentration at that point?
— We don’t think about holding the score, we just keep playing. Plus, our coach immediately reacts if there’s a mistake, so no one was trying to just protect the lead. We were simply playing, maybe making a few mistakes. Also, UNICS had nothing to lose, so they started playing aggressively. We made some mistakes, they broke away and scored, and that’s how they narrowed it down. Plus, they were at home, the fans got involved. The main thing is that at the right moment we approached with a cool head, scored, and didn’t let them catch up.
— Does this victory have any special significance considering that the previous three encounters were losses?
— Every win brings us joy. We play to win every game. Of course, each victory feels like winning gold. We’ll keep going in the same spirit.
— Can you point out a main difference between this match and the previous three against UNICS?
— We started playing more aggressively on defense. UNICS came out aggressive at the start. We were ready for that, met it well, and continued to stick to our approach.
— What has changed with the arrival of the new head coach?
— More aggressive defense, emphasis on defense, one-on-one coverage, not allowing easy shots, helping each other. Probably the biggest focus right now is defense — the offense will come.
