"A Day in history": Zenit's first home match in the EuroCup

In October 2014, the blue-whites played their first home matches in the EuroCup — formal and practically. Let’s recall each of them in order.

Zenit’s first “home” game in this new tournament for them took place on October 22 in Kazan. Due to the Cirque du Soleil tour occupying the basketball arena on Krestovsky Island, the game against Turkey's Besiktas was moved to Kazan’s Basket Hall. Trailing on the scoreboard for most of the time, the team from Saint Petersburg managed to pull ahead in the final quarter but ultimately suffered a loss in overtime, with a score of 86:90.

Zenit’s true EuroCup debut in front of their fans happened on October 29, 2014. That day, Vasily Karasev’s squad faced off against Riga’s VEF. This time, the packed stands of the SIBUR Arena witnessed a victory for Zenit, with a score of 84:70.

The hosts controlled the game from the very beginning. By halftime, Zenit was ahead by 14 points, and by the start of the final quarter, the gap between the teams had widened to 23 points. Although the visitors took the last ten minutes, the Saint Petersburg team still comfortably carried the game to a logical conclusion, rewarding their fans with their first home victory.

Zenit’s top scorer in the game against VEF was center Kyle Landry. The Canadian player scored 17 points, made 9 rebounds, and added 2 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist.

In the 2014/15 season, Zenit reached the EuroCup Round of 16, where they were defeated only by the eventual champions, Khimki from Moscow Region, in a best-of-three series.