"A Day in history": Ryan Toolson's EuroCup points record
On 14 October 2015, blue-whites played on the road against Avtodor Saratov. It was a hard, labour-intensive game, with Zenit trailing in the score most of the time. As a result, the game ended with a 90:85 victory for the St. Petersburgers after a final-quarter comeback, but that's not what stayed in the fans' memories.
That evening, guard Ryan Toolson not only had the most efficient 35-point performance of the season, but also broke the record for three-pointers made in European tournaments for Zenit. The American player made 8 of 11 attempts from beyond the arc, setting two records.
Toolson joined Zenit in 2015 and spent two full seasons with the team. During his time in St. Petersburg, the player played 93 games, in which he scored 1562 points, as well as 236 rebounds, 290 assists, 74 steals and 13 blocked shots. As a member of the blue-whites, the guard won bronze in the VTB United League and the Russian Championship in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 campaigns. In both seasons, he was the team's highest scorer in all competitions and still holds the title of the best sniper in the club's history, averaging 16.9 points per Leagues game .
Later, the basketball player played for the Turkish İstanbul Başakşehir and finished his sports career at the Spanish Manresa. In honor of the tenth anniversary of Zenit, Ryan Toolson remembered that significant day for himself and the club.
Hey everybody, this is Ryan Toolson, formerly a Zenit player from 2016 and 2017. I just wanted to say thank you to the organization and the club and all my former teammates for the recognition of that great Eurocup game against Avtodor. It was a great game from the start. I remember a few games before that, Kyle Landry and I, we began to have a really good relationship and a great chemistry on the court and we had a great pick and pop game.
And me and him got things going very early on. And just like when Michael Jordan was saying, after each shot, the basket was getting bigger. That's kind of how it felt for me. And luckily enough I had some great point guards and I had Kyle Landry setting some screens for me and some other great teammates that just made the game easier for me. So as the game went on the basket got bigger and I just got more comfortable and was able to have a lot of points and eight 3-pointers. And it was a great comeback game against them. And it was also a great start to that Eurocup season and also for the Russian season because Avtodor is obviously in the Russian league. And we would also eventually play them in the playoffs as well. And so it was a great start to that entire season.
So, again, thank you for even thinking about that game from a long time ago. It was an honor playing with you guys, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
