2018-19Regular SeasonRound 6
November 07, 2018 CET: 19:30
Local time: 19:30 RATIOPHARM ARENA

Ulm offense stuns EuroCup's top defense in win over Zvezda

ratiopharm Ulm stayed alive in the race for the Top 16 by handing Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade its second loss of the season with a 95-80 home victory. Dwayne Evans set career highs with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Patrick Miller added 20 points and Javonte Green chipped in 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals for Ulm, which improved to 3-3 in Group A with its second straight win. Zvezda dropped to 4-2 despite Ognjen Drobic draining 5 three-pointers in registering a career-best 21 points - 14 more than his previous best - to go with 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Stratos Perperoglou was the only other Zvezda player in double digits with 10 points as the team’s leading scorer, Joe Ragland, was held to 8 points though he did have 7 assists.

Ulm jumped ahead early as Zvezda started cold with just 2 points in the first five minutes and an Evans three-point play helped build a 7-2 lead. It was 13-6 for the hosts after triples from Evans and Ismet Akpinar. Evans was on target yet again from long range as Ulm went up 21-17 after 10 minutes. Ulm took control in the second quarter with threes as Per Guenther hit one and Katin Reinhardt added two for a 32-31 lead. Ragland trimmed the deficit to 35-29 only to see Miller heat up with 7 points and Evans and Isaac Fotu both connected from downtown for a 50-33 lead at the break. Zvezda scored the first 4 points of the second half, but Green's dunk made it 56-39. Dobric knocked down back-to-back three-pointers, but Zvezda could not slow down Evans and a Miller triple put Ulm up 64-45. Reinhardt added another three-pointer and the hosts led 73-57 after 30 minutes. Zvezda tried to get back into the game and Mouhammad Faye's three-pointer helped the guests pull within 79-66. Billy Baron's three got the gap down to 83-71. Green answered with scores on two straight possessions before a Filip Covic three-pointer made it a single-digit game, 89-80, with 1:29 left. Ryan Thompson came back with free throws and Green added another basket to finish off the comeback attempt.

Game-changing sequence

Zvezda trailed by just 6 points, 35-29, midway through the second quarter, but Patrick Miller scored 7 points and Dwayne Evans and Isaac Fotu both nailed three-pointers in a 15-4 surge for Ulm to lead 50-33 at the break. And the hosts never looked back.

Movers and shakers

The trio of Evans, Miller and Javonte Green was terrific in combining for 59 points on 21-for-34 shooting from the field and 13-of-19 shooting from the line, plus 20 rebounds, 2 assists, 8 steals and 2 blocks.

No stopping Ulm

Zvezda came into the game having allowed the fewest points in the league this season at 68.2 ppg. But Ulm scored 95 points - the first time an opponent scored 80 points against Zvezda this season.

Did you notice?

Zvezda big man Michael Ojo dominated with 6 points and 5 rebounds in just 5:39 minutes. But he suffered an eye injury early in the second quarter and could not return to the game.

Next games

Ulm hopes to build on the win and book a third straight victory as it travels to Galatasaray Istanbul next week. Zvezda for its part will look to rebound at home with a home game against AS Monaco.

Dwayne Evans - ratiopharm Ulm (photo Ulm - Florian Achberger) - EC18
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: ROCHA, FERNANDO; BALAK, AMIT; ALIAGA, JORDI
Attendance: 5200
By Quarter1234
ratiopharm Ulm21292322
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade17162423
End of Quarter1234
ratiopharm Ulm21507395
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade17335780
ratiopharm Ulm
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 REINHARDT, KATIN 13:54 11   3/7 2/2   1 1   1 1       3 11
2 MILLER, PATRICK 27:36 20 6/8 1/4 5/8   1 1 1 2 3 1   1 6 19
3 EVANS, DWAYNE 31:39 23 5/8 3/3 4/5 4 7 11       1 1 3 4 31
5 GREEN, JAVONTE 29:19 16 6/9 0/2 4/6 2 6 8 1 6 2   1 3 3 21
6 GUENTHER, PER 12:24 5 1/3 1/3         2         2 1 2
7 THOMPSON, RYAN 19:30 9 3/6   3/4 3 1 4 1 3 3   1 4 2 7
8 AKPINAR, ISMET 21:54 4 0/2 1/3 1/1   1 1 3   2     3 1  
12 RADOSAVLJEVIC, BOGDAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 BRETZEL, NICOLAS 3:36                         2   -2
30 UGRAI, MAXIMILIAN 8:30     0/1     2 2 1   2     3   -3
42 FOTU, ISAAC 26:36 7 2/5 1/3 0/1 4 3 7 3   1     1 2 11
44 KRAEMER, DAVID 5:02   0/1                     1   -2
Team           4 2 6               6
Totals 200:00 95 23/42 10/26 19/27 17 24 41 12 12 14 2 3 23 22 101
        54.8% 38.5% 70.4%
Head coach: LEIBENATH, THORSTEN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 RAGLAND, JOE 31:08 8 4/7 0/5 0/1   1 1 7 3 3   2 2 2 5
2 RADANOV, ALEKSA 1:51   0/2 0/1                     1 -2
3 COVIC, FILIP 14:03 7   1/3 4/4       4         1 4 12
5 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 23:05 10 3/7 1/3 1/2 1 1 2 3   1     5 2 4
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 21:52 5 2/4   1/2 1 2 3 2   2     5 3 3
11 FAYE, MOUHAMMAD 29:17 10 3/5 1/4 1/2 3 9 12 3         4 1 16
12 BARON, BILLY 23:52 9 0/2 2/5 3/4 1 2 3 1 1 4     2 4 6
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN 27:33 21 3/6 5/8   2 3 5 2 5 2 1   1 1 26
14 RISTIC, DUSAN 4:47                   1         -1
22 SIMANIC, BORISA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 ZIRBES, MAIK 16:53 4 2/2   0/2   1 1   1 1 2   1 1 5
50 OJO, MICHAEL 5:39 6 2/3   2/3 2 3 5     2     1 4 10
Team           6   6     1         5
Totals 200:00 80 19/38 10/29 12/20 16 22 38 22 10 17 3 2 22 23 89
        50% 34.5% 60%
Head coach: TOMIC, MILAN

Head Coaches

LEIBENATH, THORSTEN
ratiopharm Ulm
"In the second half, we gave up some three-point shots, they needed to push the tempo. We didn’t adjust in a great form, but in a good enough form. So, this was one of the best defensive performances. And taking a look at 95 points, it was one of our best offensive performances."
TOMIC, MILAN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"From the beginning of the game we were not ready. Tactically we set up some things to do separately with the players that we knew what they could do: let's say like [Patrick] Miller. But my players could not do tactically what I asked of them. So many turnovers, so many fast breaks from Ulm. With 25 points from fast breaks you cannot win the game. And for sure we knew that Ulm play a lot of one-on-one. We said good defense on one-on-one and we couldn't play it. Congrats to Ulm, they were better."

Players

MILLER, PATRICK
ratiopharm Ulm
"It all started from the defensive end for us today. We tried to pick up the same energy defensively that we had in our last game in the German League. The stops and turnovers that we forced on defense helped us to get into transition and to score a lot of points. We took what they usually do and used it against them."
EVANS, DWAYNE
ratiopharm Ulm
"This was huge for us. We started off slow this season, but these last couple of games we've been rolling. Guys started to believe and it's really positive right now."
LAZIC, BRANKO
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"Ulm played a very good game tonight. They were tough defensively and also able to score a lot of points against us. One reason for that was the amount of offensive rebounds that we allowed, which created second- and third-chance opportunities for them. Our opponent deserved the win tonight."