2019-20Top 16Round 1
Rytas Vilnius 86
UNICS Kazan 91
January 08, 2020 CET: 18:00
Local time: 19:00 SIEMENS ARENA

UNICS gets road win in Vilnius

UNICS Kazan jumped out to a strong start in Group G of the Top 16 by downing Rytas Vilnius 86-91 in the Lithuanian capital on Wednesday. UNICS became the first team in the entire Top 16 to win on the road. Errick McCollum led the winners with 20 points, Jamar Smith and Raymar Morgan each added 16 and Valerii Likhodei had 10 for UNICS. Mindaugas Girdziunas and Eimantas Bendzius paced Rytas with 15 points apiece, Arnas Butkevicius added 13 and Tu Holloway 12 for the hosts. A three-pointer by Pako Cruz gave Rytas a 78-74 edge midway through the fourth quarter but Morgan and Jordan Theodore fueled a 0-10 run that sealed the outcome as Rytas never recovered.

McCollum got UNICS going with a stop-and-pop jumper and a three-pointer. Alex Tyus dunked and Theodore hit a floater that caused Rytas to call timeout at 2-9. A red-hot McCollum sank his second triple to make it a double-digit game. Bendzius followed a fallaway jumper with a bomb from downtown and got help from Butkevicius to bring the hosts within 9-14. Morgan stepped up with a put-back layup, but Bendzius kept pushing Rytas with 6 unanswered points to make it 15-16 score. Girdziunas bettered McCollum's jumper with a three-pointer and hit a mid-range shot to give Rytas its first lead, 20-18. Holloway kept the hosts ahead, 23-20, after 10 minutes. Smith struck from beyond the arc early in the second quarter and erased Deividas Sirvydis's driving layup with a jumper for a 25-25 tie. Holloway and Morgan each scored in the lane before Evaldas Kayris added a layup for a 29-27 Rytas lead. Bendzius took over with a driving layup and Cruz sank a pair of floaters to make it 35-29. Martinas Echodas buried a jump hook and Dovis Bickauskis added a put-back layup, but McCollum singlehandedly kept UNICS within striking distance. Smith downed a jumper to fix the halftime score at 39-36.

Smith and Wilson each hit a jumper to restore a 40-41 UNICS lead soon after the break. Morgan took over with a fastbreak layup and a red-hot Smith followed a jumper with a three-pointer to boost UNICS's margin to 41-47. Echodas and Girdziunas ignited a 6-0 run that Holloway capped with a driving basket to tie it at 47-47. Kaimakoglou struck from beyond the arc and Wilson dunked to give UNICS fresh air at 47-52. Evgeny Kolesnikov hit a triple and Smith banked in a floater, but Butkevicius and Kairys kept Rytas close. Kaimakoglou and Butkevicius each buried a three-pointer, but so did Kaimakoglou and Wilson for a 61-64 UNICS lead after 30 minutes. Girdziunas struck from beyond the arc early in the fourth quarter to tie the score. Likhodei sank a baseline jumper and improved on Butkevicius's dunk with a three-pointer, good for a 66-69 UNICS lead. Cameron Bairstow stepped up with 5 quick points and Girdziunas made a jumper to put the hosts ahead, 73-71, with over 6 minutes left. Likhodei insisted from downtown, but Echodas answered with a jump hook and Cruz downed a triple that boosted his team's lead to 78-74. Theodore followed a three-pointer with a jumper, igniting a 0-10 run in which Morgan also had 5 points to put UNICS ahead for good, 78-84, with 3 minutes to go. Rytas kept trying but McCollum kept UNICS in charge until the final buzzer.

Pivotal performer

Errick McCollum set the tone early and finished strong to lead UNICS to a big road win. He finished the game with 20 points on 4-of-6 two-point shooting, 2-of-6 on three-pointers and 6-of-7 free throws plus 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 22.

Game-changing moment

A three-pointer by Pako Cruz gave Rytas a 78-74 margin midway through the fourth quarter, but UNICS improved its defense when it mattered most. Meanwhile, Theodore buried a three-pointer from the top of the key and added a jumper, then Morgan took over with a layup-plus-foul and hit a baseline shot for a 78-84 UNICS lead after a 0-10 run. Rytas never recovered after that.

Stellar stat

Despite being heavily outrebounded, 36-21, UNICS took excellent care of the ball with just 10 turnovers and shot the ball well from all distances (69.7% 2FG, 44% 3FG, 85.7% FT).

Did you notice?

Martinas Echodas pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds. His previous best was 11 rebounds against Fiat Turin last season. He had 8 offensive boards, the second-best mark by a Rytas player in competition history - Lawrence Roberts pulled down 10 offensive rebounds against Le Mans on November 29, 2011.

Next game

Both teams return to 7DAYS EuroCup action next week in ROund 2 of the Top 16. UNICS hosts AS Monaco on Tuesday, January 14. Rytas visits Galatasaray Dogs Sigorta Istanbul the following day.

Errick McCollum - UNICS Kazan (photo Rytas) - EC19
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PAPAPETROU, PETROS; UDYANSKYY, EDUARD
Attendance: 5479
By Quarter1234
Rytas Vilnius23162225
UNICS Kazan20162827
End of Quarter1234
Rytas Vilnius23396186
UNICS Kazan20366491
Rytas Vilnius
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 SIRVYDIS, DEIVIDAS 9:42 2 1/3 0/2     2 2           1   -1
2 BICKAUSKIS, DOVIS 15:59 2 1/2 0/1   1 1 2 1         1 1 3
5 GIEDRAITIS, KAROLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HOLLOWAY, TERRELL 24:01 12 2/4 1/4 5/6       4 1 1     2 5 13
9 CRUZ, PAKO 19:09 7 2/9 1/2 0/1 1   1 2   4   1 3 1 -6
14 ECHODAS, MARTYNAS 23:49 9 4/5   1/2 8 6 14   1 4   1 2 7 22
18 GIRDZIUNAS, MINDAUGAS 20:30 15 3/3 3/6         1 1       1   13
22 BENDZIUS, EIMANTAS 30:27 15 5/6 1/7 2/2 1 3 4     1     1 2 12
23 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 KAIRYS, EVALDAS 16:11 6 3/3     1 1 2   1 1     1   7
41 BAIRSTOW, CAMERON 9:33 5 2/2 0/1 1/1 1 2 3           2 1 6
51 BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS 30:39 13 3/3 1/1 4/4   2 2 4 1 1     4 4 19
Team           4 2 6               6
Totals 200:00 86 26/40 7/24 13/16 17 19 36 12 5 12 0 2 18 21 94
        65% 29.2% 81.3%
Head coach: ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS
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
UNICS Kazan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SERGEEV, PAVEL 3:05           1 1     1          
2 MORGAN, RAYMAR 23:16 16 6/10   4/5 3 1 4 1 2 3     5 4 14
3 MCCOLLUM, ERRICK 30:14 20 4/6 2/6 6/7 1 2 3 3   2     1 6 22
9 TYUS, ALEX 6:37 2 1/1             1   2   2 1 4
11 LIKHODEI, VALERII 18:12 10 2/3 2/4   1 1 2           1   8
13 UZINSKII, DMITRII DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SMITH, JAMAR 27:17 16 5/6 2/3     3 3 3 3 1     3 2 21
24 PALSSON, HAUKUR 24:41   0/1 0/2     2 2 1 1 1     3 1 -2
25 THEODORE, JORDAN 24:29 9 2/2 1/2 2/2   1 1 4 1       2 3 15
42 KOLESNIKOV, EVGENY 16:42 3   1/1     1 1           2   2
88 KAIMAKOGLOU, KOSTAS 10:50 6   2/4     1 1 1   2     1 1 4
99 WILSON, JAMIL 14:37 9 3/4 1/3         1         1   6
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 91 23/33 11/25 12/14 5 16 21 14 8 10 2 0 21 18 97
        69.7% 44% 85.7%
Head coach: PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

ADOMAITIS, DAINIUS
Rytas Vilnius
"I can just congratulate our guys for the fight. We had 17 offensive rebounds and that shows what kind of determination we had on the court. Like I was saying before the game, we played against a very, very experienced team with a lot of talent. They punished us for every mistake that we made. We can say that we did really well in the first half at controlling the game, controlling the rhythm. We probably made just 3-4 turnovers, but in the third quarter, this amount was doubled and they started to make their shots, sometimes even tough shots. We were not able to make some fouls when we were not in the bonus, and that situation probably cost us a lot, even the win."
PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS
UNICS Kazan
"It was a tough game. Rytas Vilnius is a tough team and it is always difficult to play here; the atmosphere is really noisy, supporting Rytas. We had patience in crucial moments and made good decisions. We had some problems with rebounding. We should have handled one specific thing that Rytas did on defense in those pick-and-pops with Bendzius. I think we did a better job in the second half, so I would say it is just the first win. It is important because it is a road win, but it is quite a long way. We have some serious problems, as you saw during the game, missing Tyus, and also Morgan comes off a serious injury. Congratulations to the players. We handled the situation of missing our big men in a collective way."

Players

SMITH, JAMAR
UNICS Kazan
"We started playing better with the pick-and-roll. In the first half, [Eimantas] Bendzius tore us up with pick-and-pop threes and post-ups. We switched the defense a little bit and changed the rhythm of the game in the second half. Basketball is a game of runs; sometimes you make shots, sometimes you don't. In the second half, we started shooting with more confidence and started making shots."
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