Zenit U21 wins bronze at the Federation Cup
The youth team of the blue-whites club became the bronze medalists of the Federation Cup of St. Petersburg, held at the Basketball Academy on September 28 and 29. During the two-day tournament, the Zenit players first faced the SUTID team in the semifinals and then defeated the amateur team G-Constant in the third-place match. The Cup winner was Tauras, who beat SUTID in the finals.
Before the semifinal against SUTID, the head coach of the blue-whites team, Roman Knyazev, received the “Best Coach 2024” award from the Basketball Coaches Union. The match itself ended with a score of 59:65 in favor of the student team, despite Zenit U21 leading after the first half. The most productive player for the youth team was Ivan Vasiliev, who scored 18 points, had 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. He was also recognized as the best player of the team after the tournament.
After the match Roman Knyazev shared his impressions about the game and spoke about the team’s preparation level at the moment:
In the preseason preparation, we trained in St. Petersburg. Initially, we had several games, but then there was a long break without any friendly matches. We went to Moscow, where we played against the strongest teams. Now we are finishing our preparation with the Federation Cup. It’s also good that we had the opportunity to play against strong teams to test our strengths before the start. So far, we haven’t shown what we wanted. I hope we have time to correct our shortcomings.
Today, we controlled the game in the first half and defended quite well. Our offense was working. The only issue was that due to a lack of concentration, we couldn’t convert enough shots. I expected the advantage to be much greater. In the second half, we came out and stopped playing offense, we stopped running, and there was practically no aggression, which led to the final result. Only 19 points in the half — that’s not what we need to look good in the regular season. I can’t say that the style of play in college basketball and the youth league differs greatly. Maybe SUTID is older. Overall, they showed good aggression, good ball pressure, and ran fast. I wouldn’t say there are huge differences.
In the match for the bronze, our guys faced the amateur team G-Constant. The blue-whites held the advantage on the court for a significant part of the game and won with a score of 85:75. The best players in this game were Zakhar Romashov (14 points + 4 rebounds + 4 assists + 1 steal), Timur Ivanov (12 points + 5 rebounds + 4 assists + 1 steal) and Pavel Logunov (11 points + 3 rebounds + 2 steals + 1 assist).
The MVP of the team at the Federation Cup Ivan Vasiliev commented after the victorious match:
Despite the 20-point lead, we had a little slump in the third quarter. The deficit was "-8". At that moment, sitting on the bench, I thought we needed a player who would take control and started taking my shots. Some were tough, and sometimes the team set me up for good situations. I succeeded, scored, and we need to continue in the same spirit. The tournament is quite interesting; there are players of different ages and varying levels of contact in each game.
The first game against SUTID was tough in the sense that we didn’t follow the coach’s instructions. Even though the game was even, we lost it mentally. We lost battles at times and missed easy points. But today, we tried to correct our mistakes, attacked the opponent's boards more, defended more aggressively, and took our shots more confidently. And we got the opposite result. Regarding the preseason, I can say there’s always room for improvement. In our case, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We have a week to prepare for the game against the basketball club Samara-2. I think if we address certain mistakes and add a bit more desire in team chemistry, we will succeed and everything will be fine.
Zenit U21 guard Zakhar Romashov shared his feelings about working in the team and what it was like to play against other participating teams:
How do I feel inside the club? Overall, excellent, the team is great, and the coaching staff is wonderful. The attitude towards the players is excellent. I was afraid that I wouldn’t settle in St. Petersburg quickly after moving, but now everything is super. Speaking about the game, I would say it went partially well. We had a lot of turnovers, although the opponent didn’t pressure us as much as during the preseason games. There, the pressure was stronger, but still, we will work on our mistakes, and it will be better closer to the season. Is there a noticeable difference between playing against such opponents and youth teams? The contact was felt a little, we were slightly behind in physical preparation. Otherwise, I don’t think there are significant differences because the age gap isn’t that big, just 2-3 years.
The regular championship for the youth team will begin on October 7-8 with home games against Samara-2. The games will take place at the Zenit Basketball Academy. Come and support the blue-whites! Admission is free.
