Fenerbahce dominates UNICS
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul snapped a two-game losing streak with an emphatic 80-41 victory at home over UNICS Kazan. Fenerbahce took control of the game with a 26-4 run spanning the first and second quarters in moving to 2-2 on the young season. Marial Shayok paced Fenerbahce with 17 points while Devin Booker scored 16 points with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Nando de Colo tallied 13 points and Ahmet Duverioglu chipped in 10 points and 8 rebounds. UNICS dropped to 1-3 with a historically bad offensive performance, setting several negative club records. Isaiah Canaan was the only player to score in double figures with 10 points.
Neither team scored for the first 3 minutes until Tonye Jekiri’s jumper for UNICS. Booker answered right back with a three-pointer for Fenerbahce’s first points and he added an inside score for a 7-2 lead early. UNICS evened the game at 7-7 only to see Fenerbahce get a dunk from Jan Vesely and triples from Dyshawn Pierre and de Colo in a 14-1 run to close the first quarter ahead 21-8.
Marko Guduric added to the run with the first points of the second quarter and Marco Spissu finally got the guests on the board with a three-pointer. Fenerbahce was not fazed with de Colo adding back-to-back triples in a 10-0 surge for a 33-11 lead. Canaan ended the rut with a three-pointer, but Fenerbahce did not slow down; Booker hit from deep again and Shayok added a triple and three-point play to push the margin to 44-18. The score was 44-22 at the break.
Shayok continued his hot game to start the second half with a three-pointer and Booker added two scores for a 51-22 advantage. UNICS needed almost 3 minutes to finally score with a Mario Hezonja free throw. De Colo added two scores in an 8-0 run and the cushion was 59-23. Lorenzo Brown hit a layup with 1:55 minutes left for UNICS’s first basket of the quarter, which ended with Fenerbahce up 61-27.
Lorenzo Brown scored the first basket of the fourth quarter but the guests could not really slow Fenerbahce with Shayok making it 66-29. Canaan was able to pick up some points while Duverioglu did the scoring for Fenerbahce down the stretch with the game long decided.
Pivotal performer - Marial Shayok breaks out
Marial Shayok was a massive part of the victory for Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul with 17 points including 2-of-3 shooting on three-pointers to go with 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block in 26:55 minutes. The EuroLeague rookie came into the game having collected a total of 6 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists and missing all 6 of his three-point attempts in 48:25 minutes over the first three games. His index rating of 19 also increased his total PIR for the season to 19 after he had a 0 PIR thus far.
Youngster Hazer scores first EuroLeague points
The blowout win over UNICS gave Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul coach Sasa Djordjevic an opportunity to give some solid minutes to the team’s 22-year-old guard Sehmus Hazer. The off-season acquisition from Besiktas Istanbul collected 4 points on 1-of-1 shooting and 2-of-2 free throws as well as 1 assist for an index ranking of 7 in 10:51 minutes. Hazer, who had made his EuroLeague debut in Round 2 with 33 seconds, showed his fearlessness in the fourth quarter as he drove to the lane for what would have been a spectacular dunk and was fouled hard. He dusted himself off, got up and buried both of his foul shots. And all-in-all, Hazer can be happy about his first real showing in the EuroLeague.
Telling numbers: UNICS with a night to forget
Lots of UNICS Kazan club records for futility were broken in this loss at the hands of Fenerbahce. The 41 points was a new low; the previous worst being 50 points on December 8, 2011, against FC Barcelona. The PIR of 16 easily was worse than the 39 from the January 26, 2017 loss against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Also new club lows were 28.9 percent on two-pointers as well as 24.9% true shooting percentage - worse than the 31.1% and 29.6%, respectively, from the aforementioned Maccabi game. UNICS’s 18.5% on three-pointers was only the third-worst in club history - 11.1% being the low mark from February 8, 2012, against Milan.

Thursday, October 14, 2021
Euroleague.net