"In the third quarter we stopped defending": Popovic and Samukhin about the match against Tambov

The head coach of Zenit-2, Oliver Popovic, commented on the victory over Tambov (81:88) during the post-match press conference.

— First of all, we had the same problems as Tambov. Today we had 10 players, just like the opponent. Out of those, 9 were fine, and one had an injury. Two stayed home, also injured. I can say that we played well for two quarters, but in the third, we stopped defending. Very strange shooting percentages today, we were much worse from two-point range than from three. But still, in the end, we won, and I hope that for the next game against CSKA-2, we will have 12 players.

— Before the break and after, we saw two different games. Did you expect such changes from Tambov, that the opponents would show such persistence and determination to win?

— Tambov is an experienced team. The fact that they were trailing by 12 points at halftime isn’t a big deal, that happens. We have a young team, and it’s always like this for us. Sometimes the game goes well, sometimes it doesn’t. The most important thing is that in the third quarter, we didn’t defend at all. I thought it would be much easier if we had defended in that segment as we should have. There were long stretches with only one or two fouls, we allowed many points, 25 in the third quarter, and that’s when the game became even. But in the end, we won, and I think it was deserved today.

Zenit-2 center, Vladislav Samukhin, also shared his emotions about today’s game.

— A lot of fans came today, the atmosphere was good, they cheered well here. In terms of the game, we were able to follow the coach’s instructions in offense. We didn’t play well in defense, but we won — that’s the most important thing.

— What did you not expect from your opponent during the game?

— Number 24 (Pavel Novikov) scored a lot. We probably weren’t prepared for that. They were hitting very well. But otherwise, everything was as we analyzed in the pre-game.