Dejan Radonjić: "It's a big game and a big win, for sure"

Zenit head coach Dejan Radonjić commented on the victory in the home game of Round 39 of the VTB United League regular season against UNICS (86:69). Thanks to the win over the Kazan team, the Blue-White-Sky Blues secured third place in the standings.

— I want to congratulate my players for the win and for this game. Always if you play against good players, it's important to play good. And it's a big game and a big win, for sure, but in these circumstances right now it's more important than usually after some games that we didn't play well. And especially because of the right now we are in third spot, so it was also important. 

About the game, you know, the beginning was really great. Defensively, offensively… Of course, if you play against such a good team like UNICS, you cannot go all minutes like that. So, second half was with some mistakes in the beginning, but after that, more or less, we were good enough to control the game. 

And thanks a lot to the fans for the support, it was important for us.

— Today there was an excellent start, good finishing under the basket, and a high percentage of two-point shooting throughout the game (56.8%). What was the key specifically in the play under the basket?

— I think that defense was really good. It was a key for this game. Especially, you can see these numbers, you know, eight players with one or more assists. In total, 21. This is the reason why we play offensively good, also. So, I can be very satisfied with this game, in total.

— Today Zenit confirmed its intention to compete in the EuroLeague. Do you think the club could fight for a top-5 or top-10 finish this season, and would roster strengthening be necessary for that?

— It's difficult to say that we are capable to be competitive with the best teams in Europe. But I hope so very soon we will be in the EuroLeague again, and then of course to think about what the club needs to do to be competitive and to make a good result in the league.