2021-22Regular SeasonRound 16
December 17, 2021 CET: 17:00
Local time: 19:00 BASKET HALL KAZAN

Hezonja boosts UNICS past Zalgiris

In a game that was deadlocked through three quarters, UNICS Kazan dominated the fourth to grab its third consecutive win by downing Zalgiris Kaunas 66-53 at home on Friday. UNICS improved to 10-6 in the standings and is 9-2 in the last 11 games. Meanwhile, Zalgiris dropped to 3-13 and lost another chance to record its first road victory. Mario Hezonja led the winners with 20 points. Tonye Jekiri and Isaiah Canaan each added 11 while Lorenzo Brown had a career-high 10 assists for UNICS. Marek Blazevic and Janis Strelnieks led Zalgiris with 9 points apiece. Canaan and Jekiri allowed UNICS to get a 13-12 lead after 10 minutes. Hezonja and Canaan stepped up late in the first half, keeping the hosts ahead, 26-23, at halftime. Hezonja took over after the break to give UNICS a 40-35 margin but Strelnieks helped Zalgiris tie the game, 42-42, at the end of the third quarter. Lorenzo Brown and Jekiri fueled a 10-0 fourth-quarter blast that sealed the outcome, 52-42, as Zalgiris never recovered.

Edgaras Ulanovas got Zalgiris going with a floater that Jarrell Brantley matched with a power layup while Lorenzo Brown scored in penetration for a 4-2 UNICS lead. John Brown capped UNICS's 6-0 run with a turnaround jumper before Mantas Kalnietis stepped up with a driving basket and Tyler Cavanaugh struck from downtown for a 6-7 Zalgiris lead. Ulanovas buried a jump hook that Marco Spissu bettered with a bomb from beyond the arc for a 9-9 tie. Jekiri scored in the low post and Canaan matched Blazevic's jumper with a driving layup, good for a 13-12 UNICS lead after 10 minutes.

Cavanaugh scored down low for the visitors early in the second quarter. Jekiri dunked in response but Blazevic answered him with a layup for a 15-16 Zalgiris edge. O.J. Mayo buried a floater in the lane for UNICS and soon added a three-pointer. Zalgiris tried a smaller lineup with Ulanovas at power forward, but the visitors struggled to score for more than 4 minutes until Strelnieks hit a corner triple. Josh Nebo joined the fun with an alley-oop slam but Hezonja followed a jumper with a layup for a 24-21 UNICS lead. Nebo kept pacing Zalgiris with a put-back dunk that Canaan matched with an inside basket to fix UNICS's halftime edge at 26-23.

Kalnietis nailed a three-pointer soon after the break and Blazevic scored in transition as Zalgiris seized a 26-28 edge. Hezonja answered with a corner triple to which Jekiri added an inside basket as UNICS now flipped the scoreboard, 32-29. Blazevic boosted the guests with a three-point play and Cavanaugh added a three-pointer, but a red-hot Hezonja struck twice from downtown and Canaan added a coast-to-coast layup to keep UNICS ahead, 40-35. After Hezonja finished a reverse layup, Strelnieks struck for Zalgiris with a bomb from beyond the arc and a layup for another tie, 42-42, after 30 minutes.

Lorenzo Brown hit from the arc to open the fourth quarter and Jekiri dunked to put UNICS up 47-42. Lorenzo Brown kept pacing the hosts with a jumper and an assist for Hezonja's next three-pointer, making it a double-digit difference, 52-42, with over 6 minutes left. Niels Giffey tried to reignite Zalgiris with a layup but Jekiri's next one came with a free throw to make it 55-44. Canaan rattled in a three-pointer and added a fastbreak layup off a huge block by Hezonja that sealed the outcome, 60-44. Zalgiris kept trying but UNICS fans were already celebrating another win.

Jekiri stepped up against Zalgiris

He may not be in the spotlight, but Tonye Jekiri has slowly but steadily become one of UNICS Kazan's main pillars, balancing his team at both ends, as he showed during his team's third straight victory, 66-53 over visiting Zalgiris Kaunas, in Round 16. Jekiri scored 11 points on 5-for-7 two-point shooting to go with 9 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block, good for a PIR of 20. In his team's last three victories, he has averaged 7.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and a PIR of 14.0. Jekiri is playing a key role on defense and making very few mistakes on offense, averaging just 1.2 turnovers in almost 24 minutes per night.

Three-pointers gave UNICS its 10th win

In a physical showdown, UNICS Kazan had to fight hard to defeat Zalgiris Kaunas 66-53 in Round 16. UNICS managed to shoot the ball with much higher percentages that allowed it to break the game open in the fourth quarter. UNICS buried 8 of 17 three-point shots (47.1%), limiting Zalgiris to just 6 of 21 shots from the same distance (28.6%). The hosts also shot the ball better than Zalgiris inside the arc; UNICS had a 48.7% two-point shooting percentage, better than its opponent (40.5%).

Zalgiris's Nebo stayed solid

Although Zalgiris Kaunas registered its third consecutive loss, center Josh Nebo kept playing at a very high level against UNICS Kazan in Round 16. Nebo once again posted really solid numbers, finishing the game with 7 points, 7 rebounds, an assist, a steal, 2 blocks and 4 fouls drawn for a PIR of 17. In his team's last three games, Nebo has averaged 10.7 points on 13-for-17 two-point shooting (76.5%), 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for a PIR average of 19.3. He is also drawing more fouls, at 4.0 per game, than in his first 12 games (1.3 on average).

Mario Hezonja - UNICS Kazan - EB21
Friday, December 17, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 1831
By Quarter1234
UNICS Kazan13131624
Zalgiris Kaunas12111911
End of Quarter1234
UNICS Kazan13264266
Zalgiris Kaunas12234253
UNICS Kazan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 SPISSU, MARCO 10:01 3   1/1     1 1 1   1 1   1 1 5
00 BROWN, JOHN 26:09 5 2/8   1/2 3 2 5   2 1     3 3 4
3 CANAAN, ISAIAH 25:16 11 4/5 1/4     1 1     2     3   3
4 BROWN, LORENZO 27:31 9 2/6 1/2 2/2   3 3 10 2     2 3 3 17
5 BRANTLEY, JARRELL 6:52 2 1/2                     1 1 1
8 ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV 2:28           1 1 1   1         1
11 HEZONJA, MARIO 34:20 20 4/9 4/6   1 5 6   1 2 1     3 22
12 KLIMENKO, ARTEM 1:42                           1 1
13 UZINSKII, DMITRII 7:49           1 1     2     3   -4
23 JEKIRI, TONYE 26:14 11 5/7   1/1 2 7 9 1 1 1 1   2 2 20
32 MAYO, O J 12:35 5 1/2 1/3     1 1 1 1 2         3
33 VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY 19:03     0/1     1 1   1 2 1   1   -1
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 66 19/39 8/17 4/5 8 25 33 14 8 14 4 2 17 14 76
        48.7% 47.1% 80%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
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
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WEBSTER, TAI 23:29 3 1/4 0/1 1/2 1 4 5 6 1 1   1 2 2 8
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK 10:14 9 4/6   1/1 1   1 1 1 2   1 1 1 7
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 10:10   0/1                         -1
7 NEBO, JOSH 28:18 7 3/4   1/2 3 4 7 1 1 2 2   1 4 17
9 KALNIETIS, MANTAS 25:29 5 1/3 1/3     1 1 5 2 1     3 1 6
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 13:24   0/1 0/2           1       1   -3
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 4:33   0/1 0/1     1 1 1   1         -1
32 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 20:19 9 1/2 2/4 1/1   2 2           1 4 11
34 CAVANAUGH, TYLER 25:13 8 1/7 2/5   1 3 4 1   1   1 2 1 1
55 GIFFEY, NIELS 12:09 5 1/3 1/3     1 1   1 1   1 2   -1
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 26:42 7 3/5 0/2 1/2   5 5 2   2     1 3 9
Team           3 1 4     4          
Totals 200:00 53 15/37 6/21 5/8 9 22 31 17 7 15 2 4 14 16 53
        40.5% 28.6% 62.5%
Head coach: ZDOVC, JURE

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
UNICS Kazan
"We are in the top four 18 games before the end, and this is an anecdote. The most important is that we won the game, because after having a great performance in Moscow, in a great, emotional game, it was very difficult to play today, and I was afraid before the game. Zalgiris is playing much better now in the last weeks and they are really in good shape. Today, the game was tough. From the beginning, we played walking and were not aggressive. We didn't even have the possibility to go to the free throw line because we were not aggressive. We didn't get offensive rebounds. It was very tough. In the third quarter, we started better but also Zalgiris, in that moment, started to score some difficult shots and the game was open. I think that in the beginning of the last quarter, we broke the game definitely, still played good defense but scored some open shots, which is always good in these moments. So I think the beginning of the last quarter was the key. We just played 16 games and have 18 more. Like I said before, it is anecdotic but it is nice to see ourselves rank high in the standings. I remember when Milan came here, they were the leaders with just one loss and 20 days later, they are in the seventh position. Everybody is very close and the competition is so tough. We now have a very difficult schedule, so we need to be realistic."
ZDOVC, JURE
Zalgiris Kaunas
"Congratulations to 'Peras' (Velimir Perasovic) for the win. It was a good game for 30 minutes, for us, and in the last quarter, we made some mistakes. Offensively, we couldn't find the rhythm against their switching but we also stopped playing defense. It must be the opposite and we made some naive mistakes, were a little unlucky, and in the end, we lost the game. I am very disappointed, which is normal. We will try to learn something from this game and move forward."

Players

HEZONJA, MARIO
UNICS Kazan
"It is great to get this win. We knew it was going to be a hard game. Honestly, I don't know what sport we played in the first half, both teams. If I were a coach, I would get us to practice, now, after the game. That was embarrassing, a little bit. But hopefully we woke up in the second half, especially Tonye with big plays, Lorenzo with big plays, and a big shots from Isaiah. And I got it going also with some threes. I mean, when we started to play our game, I always say on all interviews that we are a pretty good team. Once we woke up, we found the rhythm and picked it up on defense. This is our identity right now and we got the win. So we have to take everyone serious and we will be alright."
JEKIRI, TONYE
UNICS Kazan
"In the first half, we had to come out and stay focused. We are known for playing defense, and that gives us a good offensive balance. So everybody had to pick up the pace and try to defend his man one-on-one. And I think we did a good job in the second half, just trying to contain them and making them take tough shots."