UNICS Kazan vs. Zenit St Petersburg

2021-22Regular SeasonRound 1

UNICS Kazan 69

Zenit St Petersburg 70

October 01, 2021 CET: 18:00

Local time: 19:00 BASKET HALL KAZAN

Baron lifts Zenit past Kazan in thriller

In an all-Russian opening game, Zenit St Petersburg recorded its first win of the 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season by downing UNICS Kazan 69-70 on the road on Friday. Conner Frankamp led the winners with 18 points in his EuroLeague debut. Billy Baron added 17 while Jordan Loyd had 10 for Zenit. Isaiah Canaan led UNICS with 18 points, all in the second half. Mario Hezonja added 14 and John Brown 10 for the hosts. John Brown and Mario Spissu fueled a 12-0 run that allowed UNICS to get a 24-18 margin early in the second quarter. Frankamp put Zenit ahead 25-26 but Lorenzo Brown helped UNICS tie 33-33 at halftime. Andrey Vorontsevich later struck from downtown to lift UNICS ahead by 47-41, but Baron and Arturas Gudaitis fueled a 0-10 run that gave Zenit a 49-51 edge after 30 minutes. Baron got help from Gudaitis and Dmitry Kulagin to send Zenit comfortably in front, 54-66, before UNICS tried to come back late, but fell just short.

Buzzer Beater Alert #7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/Kcs4lzoKuJ
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) October 1, 2021

Jordan Mickey got Zenit going with a five-meter jumper but UNICS soon found a go-to guy in Hezonja, who struck twice from downtown and added a jumper and a coast-to-coast dunk for a 10-7 lead. Alex Poythress scored down low and Frankamp added a three-point play to put Zenit ahead, 10-12. Tonye Jekiri swished a mid-range jumper but Loyd, Andrey Zubkov and Poythress each scored around the basket to boost the guests' lead to 12-18. John Brown and Lorenzo Brown rescued UNICS and Mario Spissu hit a buzzer-beating jumper off a steal for a 22-18 UNICS lead after 10 minutes. John Brown capped UNICS’s 12-0 run with a close basket early in the second quarter. Frankamp stepped up with back-to-back triples and soon Zenit had a 25-26 edge. Artem Klimenko and John Brown each hit a jump hook but Baron kept his team ahead, 29-31. Jekiri sank another jumper and Lorenzo Brown added a coast-to-coast layup for a 33-33 tie at halftime.

Hezonja scored again after the break and Canaan added a three-pointer to make Zenit call timeout at 38-33. Loyd responded with a wild four-point play, then got help from Ponitka and Poythress to send Zenit ahead again, 40-41. Canaan kept pacing UNICS with a driving layup, igniting a 7-0 run that Vorontsevich capped with a corner three-pointer that excited the crowd at 47-41. Baron followed a jumper with a triple and Gudaitis dunked twice in a 10-0 run that gave Zenit fresh air at 47-51. John Brown beat the shot clock with a layup that fixed the score at 49-51 for Zenit after 30 minutes. Baron insisted from downtown early in the fourth quarter and Gudaitis hit a jumper for a 50-56 Zenit lead. Kulagin scored in penetration and added a jumper that made it a double-digit game, 50-60. A red hot Baron buried back-to-back bombs from beyond the arc give his team a 54-66 margin with over 3 minutes left. Canaan buried 3 consecutive three-pointers and added a put-back basket, then Hezonja scored in penetration as UNICS closed within 67-70 UNICS with 19.4 seconds left. Canaan scored again off a Zenit timeout but the guests ran down the game clock on the final possession to escape with the victory.

1⃣ W this season

@EuroLeague

@unicsbasket - 70:69. pic.twitter.com/qzEOihWZud
— Basketball club Zenit (@zenitbasket) October 1, 2021

Pivotal performer

Billy Baron made the difference in the second half with his outside shooting, especially in one-on-one situations, opening the floor for other players like Arturas Gudaitis and Dmitry Kulagin. Baron finished the game with 17 points, making 4 of 8 three-pointers and adding 4 rebounds for a PIR of 14.

Game-changing sequence

UNICS led 47-41 but Zenit finally found answers on offense through Billy Baron, who beat the shot clock with a wild jumper and added a couple of three-pointers. Arturas Gudaitis dunked twice and Dmitry Kulagin followed a driving layup with a mid-range jumper, giving Zenit its first double-digit lead, 50-60, with under 7 minutes left.

Stellar stat

Rebounds and free throw accuracy arguably were the biggest keys to this game. Zenit outrebounded UNICS by 26-40, pulling down as many as 12 offensive boards. Zenit was almost perfect from the foul line, hitting 12 of 13 attempts (92.3%). UNICS struggled at the foul line, making just 8 of 15 shots there (53.3%), which proved fateful to the outcome

Did you know?

Despite facing each other many times in domestic action, UNICS and Zenit had never shared the floor in EuroLeague action. Both teams, however, had played against each other in the 7DAYS EuroCup, in which UNICS beat Zenit four times – twice each in 2015 and 2019.

Next game

Both teams return to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action next week. Zenit visits Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday, October 7 at 19:00 CET, in a special game for Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Gudaitis. A day later, on Friday, October 8, UNICS hosts AS Monaco in a rematch of last season's EuroCup Finals.

Conner Frankamp - Zenit St Petersburg - EB21

Friday, October 1, 2021

Euroleague.net

Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; MOGULKOC, EMIN; KONSTANTINOVS, KRISTAPS

Attendance: 3021

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
UNICS Kazan	22	11	16	20
Zenit St Petersburg	18	15	18	19

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
UNICS Kazan	22	33	49	69
Zenit St Petersburg	18	33	51	70

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	21:07	5	1/2	0/1	3/4				2	1				2	2	5
00	BROWN, JOHN	26:20	10	5/7			2	2	4		2				1	2	15
3	CANAAN, ISAIAH	26:52	18	3/5	4/8		1	1	2	1		2			3	1	11
4	BROWN, LORENZO	32:39	7	2/5	0/3	3/3		2	2	6	2	2			1	3	11
5	BRANTLEY, JARRELL	8:16	1	0/3	0/1	1/2		1	1	1						1	-1
8	ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV	12:32	2	1/1			1	2	3	2		1			2		4
11	HEZONJA, MARIO	21:09	14	4/7	2/6			4	4		2	1			4	4	12
12	KLIMENKO, ARTEM	4:09	3	1/1		1/2						1			2	1
13	UZINSKII, DMITRII	5:41								1					2		-1
23	JEKIRI, TONYE	21:32	6	3/6		0/2		3	3		2	1			1	3	7
33	VORONTSEVICH, ANDREY	19:43	3	0/1	1/1	0/2	1	2	3	3		2			3	1	2
44	KOMOLOV, ARTEM	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Team						2	2	4								4
	Totals	200:00	69	20/38	7/20	8/15	7	19	26	16	9	10	0	0	21	18	69
				52.6%	35%	53.3%

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

Zenit St Petersburg

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
2	LOYD, JORDAN	20:22	10	3/4	1/5	1/1	1	4	5	2		2			3	3	10
3	ZAKHAROV, DENIS	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	KARASEV, SERGEY	12:30	2	1/1	0/2			2	2	1					1		2
9	KULAGIN, DMITRY	11:19	4	2/2	0/1		1		1	3		3			4	1	1
12	BARON, BILLY	22:25	17	1/2	4/8	3/3		4	4			2			1	1	14
19	KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS	4:29						2	2			1				1	2
20	ZUBKOV, ANDREY	23:48	2	1/2	0/2		4	3	7		1				1	2	8
22	POYTHRESS, ALEX	16:42	6	3/3				5	5		1	1			2		9
25	PONITKA, MATEUSZ	22:55	1	0/3	0/1	1/2		3	3	4	1	4			1	6	5
33	FRANKAMP, CONNER	26:12	18	1/2	3/8	7/7		1	1		1	2			2	6	16
55	MICKEY, JORDAN	16:19	2	1/4	0/1		1	1	2		1	1			2		-2
77	GUDAITIS, ARTURAS	22:59	8	4/6			3	1	4	1					1	1	11
	Team						2	2	4			2					2
	Totals	200:00	70	17/29	8/28	12/13	12	28	40	11	5	18	0	0	18	21	78
				58.6%	28.6%	92.3%

Head coach: PASCUAL, XAVI

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR

UNICS Kazan

“First of all, congratulations to Zenit. They deserved the victory because in the second half they know clearly what they wanted. Especially in the beginning of the last quarter, they broke the game. The key was that in the second half we had big problems on offense. We couldn’t score easy baskets and had problems to find good positions and we also made bad decisions sometimes in transitions. So, after a good defense we were not able to put it on the scoreboard as we played poor offense. We had big problems in stopping Baron on the perimeter. There was a crucial moment that broke the game when he made 3 three-pointers in a row. Additionally, we had problems with the rebounds throughout the whole game. With our fight and with our steals, we provoked 18 turnovers that allowed us to stay in the game. But really, we made bad decisions offensively and we couldn’t stop Baron. And at the beginning of the game we also couln’t stop their point guard, Frankcamp.”

PASCUAL, XAVI

Zenit St Petersburg

"The game was more or less as we thought that it would be before the game. In the last part of the game, we took an important advantage. We were, I think, 10 points up before the last 3 minutes, or the last 2:30, something like that. And after that, we lost the control of the game and this is something that we have to improve because on some nights like today, when you have this advantage, you cannot lose the game. So on one side we are happy, but on the other side, it is obvious that we have to improve in a lot of scenarios."

Players

LOYD, JORDAN

Zenit St Petersburg

"We expected a hard game because we know how they play defense and they can get going in any second. We knew going into the game that we had to take care of the ball, which we really didn't do that well, but we knew the game was going to be tough, especially on the road. The guys that were out there were doing great, everybody was rolling and the next thing you know, they hit three threes in a row and it is a new game. We just have to do better, it is the first game of the season, we are still learning. We will get better."

FRANKAMP, CONNER

Zenit St Petersburg

"It was a hard-fought game. We know that in the second half they would come out aggressive, and they did. We made some critical turnovers down the stretch but it is our first EuroLeague game. We will learn from those turnovers and it doesn't matter because we ended up winning. That is the most important thing. It was tough, especially playing away the first EuroLeague game of the year, and this is their first EuroLeague game, I think, in a couple of years. We knew they would be excited to play, and we came out and were able to get the win."

BARON, BILLY

Zenit St Petersburg

"We knew they would play with a lot of energy. It is their first game in the EuroLeague in a while, so we knew they were going to come out with a lot of rhythm in this game. Thankfully, it wasn't pretty, but we came out with an important victory. Any road victory in the EuroLeague is crucial. We played really, really sloppy, so there is a lot of area for improvement, but we will get there."