2020-21Top 16Round 3
Mornar Bar 70
UNICS Kazan 87
January 27, 2021 CET: 18:45
Local time: 18:45 TOPOLICA SPORTS HALL

UNICS tops Mornar for record 155th win

UNICS Kazan took a critical step toward qualifying for the 7DAYS EuroCup Playoffs from Group H by downing Mornar Bar 70-87 at Topolica Sports Hall on Wednesday. UNICS improved to 3-0 in the Top 16 while Mornar dropped to 1-2. The win was the team's 155th in the EuroCup, which took it past Valencia Basket for the most in competition history. UNICS can mathematically advance to the next stage in Round 4 if it beats Mornar at home and Herbalife Gran Canaria wins at least one of its two games against MoraBanc Andorra. Isaiah Canaan led UNICS with 18 points, Jordan Morgan added 14 points and 14 rebounds, John Holland scored 13 and John Brown 10 for UNICS. Isaiah Whitehead led the hosts with 17 points, Kenny Gabriel scored 12 and Marko Jeremic and Nemanja Vranjes each had 11 for Mornar, which led 22-21 after 10 minutes. However, UNICS locked in on defense and scored 49 points in the middle two quarters to lead by 16 with 10 minutes left and held on until the final buzzer.

Gabriel stepped up early with 7 quick points and Whitehead added a jumper for a 9-6 Mornar lead. Nate Wolters and Okaro White each struck from downtown, but so did Vranjes to tie it at 12-12. Morgan sank a jump hook and Canaan made a close jumper, but Whitehead and Gabriel restored a 17-16 Mornar lead. After Holland buried one from beyond the arc, Nemanja Gordic answered with a driving basket and found Jeremic for a triple and a 22-21 Mornar lead after 10 minutes. Jeremic buried another three-pointer early in the second quarter and Whitehead scored in penetration for a 27-23 Mornar lead. Brown erased Taylor Smith's dunk with a tip-in and an unstoppable Holland helped UNICS regain the lead, 29-30. Brown took over with a put-back basket. Wolters and Gordic traded driving layups and Jamar Smith struck from downtown for a 31-37 score. Canaan scored twice in penetration and Smith beat the halftime buzzer with a fallaway jumper for a 36-43 UNICS lead.

Vranjes stepped up for the hosts after the break, but White sank his second triple to make it 42-46. Jordan Theodore answered from beyond the arc and Morgan added a jump hook and a huge alley-oop slam that boosted UNICS's lead to 44-53. Whitehead downed a three-pointer, but Theodore and Holland soon made it a double-digit game, 47-58. Canaan sank a step-back jumper and Morgan scored again. Whitehead and Jeremic drew Mornar within 52-62. Canaan and White kept pushing the guests and Brown dunked in traffic for a 54-70 UNICS lead after 30 minutes. Evgeny Kolesnikov hit a jumper early in the fourth quarter. Smith answered with an alley-oop dunk, which Aleksandar Lazic followed with a driving layup to bring Mornar within 58-72. Brown answered with an alley-oop slam and Morgan sealed the outcome, 58-76, as the visitors did not lose control in the final 4 minutes.

Pivotal performer

Jordan Morgan led UNICS to a critical victory with a monster double-double. He finished the game with 14 points on 7-of-11 two-point shooting and 14 rebounds. That's the most boards by a UNICS player in EuroCup action since Maciej Lampe pulled down 16 against Pepsi Caserta on March 30, 2011.

Game-changing moment

Mornar led 29-25 midway through the second quarter, but a tip-in by John Brown sparked a 2-12 run in which John Holland and Jamar Smith each struck from beyond the arc. Isaiah Canaan capped it with a layup, as UNICS grabbed a 31-39 lead and never looked back.

Stellar stat

UNICS outrebounded Mornar 26-39, including 10 offensive boards. The guests also made 25 of 40 two-point shots (62.5%) and limited Mornar to just 17-of-33 shooting inside the arc (51.5%)

Did you know?

UNICS recorded its 155th win in the competition to set the EuroCup record. It surpassed Valencia Basket, which now ranks second with 154 wins. Herbalife Gran Canaria (116) and Rytas Vilnius (102) are the only other teams with more than 100 victories in EuroCup history. UNICS, which won the competition in the 2010-11 campaign, has played 219 EuroCup games and has a 70.8% winning percentage.

Next game

The two teams face each other again in Top 16 Round 4 next week. This time, UNICS hosts Mornar at Basket Hall Kazan on Wednesday, February 3.

Nate Wolters - UNICS Kazan (photo Mornar) - EC20
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: PERUGA, CARLOS; ISGUDER, SINAN; SILVA, SERGIO
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Mornar Bar22141816
UNICS Kazan21222717
End of Quarter1234
Mornar Bar22365470
UNICS Kazan21437087
Mornar Bar
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 GABRIEL, KENNY 27:21 12 2/2 2/5 2/2   5 5 1         1 1 15
5 NEEDHAM, DEREK 20:19 2 1/2 0/2     2 2 5 1     1 2 2 6
6 JEREMIC, MARKO 19:41 11 1/1 3/7 0/1         1 1     3 2 5
7 GORDIC, NEMANJA 19:41 4 2/7 0/1   1   1 3   1     1 2 2
8 SEHOVIC, SEAD 7:06   0/1       1 1     2         -2
9 SMITH, TAYLOR 27:22 6 3/3     3 4 7 1 2   2   3 2 17
11 WHITEHEAD, ISAIAH 29:00 17 4/9 3/9     3 3 2 1 2   1 4 2 7
13 LAZIC, ALEKSANDAR 10:43 5 2/4 0/1 1/2 2   2           1 2 4
17 VUJOSEVIC, RADOJE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
41 VRANJES, NEMANJA 20:32 11 1/2 2/5 3/3   3 3 1         1 1 11
51 BJELICA, MILKO 5:37   0/1 0/1             1     1 1 -3
55 LUKOVIC, UROS 12:38 2 1/1           1   1 1       3
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 70 17/33 10/31 6/8 6 20 26 14 5 8 3 2 17 15 67
        51.5% 32.3% 75%
Head coach: PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO
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
00 BROWN, JOHN 22:38 10 5/7 0/1 0/1 3 3 6 2 1 1   1 3 2 12
3 CANAAN, ISAIAH 28:41 18 6/7 0/4 6/6   3 3 2   3     1 5 19
6 ZHBANOV, GEORGY 8:02           1 1       1   1 1 2
7 WOLTERS, NATE 14:10 7 2/2 1/2     2 2 3         1   10
9 WHITE, OKARO 24:03 8 1/1 2/5     3 3     1     1 1 7
12 KLIMENKO, ARTEM 4:07                   1         -1
13 UZINSKII, DMITRII DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SMITH, JAMAR 22:36 8 1/4 2/5   1 3 4 1 1     1 1 2 8
19 MORGAN, JORDAN 29:12 14 7/11     4 10 14 2   2     1 1 24
23 HOLLAND, JOHN 17:49 13 0/1 3/4 4/5   1 1 2 1   1   2 2 15
25 THEODORE, JORDAN 24:07 7 2/6 1/2     2 2 5       1 2 3 9
42 KOLESNIKOV, EVGENY 4:35 2 1/1     1   1     2     2   -1
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 87 25/40 9/23 10/12 10 29 39 17 3 10 2 3 15 17 106
        62.5% 39.1% 83.3%
Head coach: PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS

Head Coaches

PAVICEVIC, MIHAILO
Mornar Bar
"First of all, I really want to congratulate our opponents. They took control of the game at the end of the second quarter and never gave us any chance to come back to the game. As I said before the game, we knew that we were going to play against, in my opinion, the best team in the EuroCup. Even if Virtus Bologna is 13-0, if you ask me, as a coach, this team is, for how they play and their quality, the best team in the EuroCup. But it was not an easy game for us. We opened the game quite good. In the first 15 minutes we were in, I think we were up 29-25, something like this. After that, we let run, I think, 14-2 and had no chance to come back to the game. It is our first game without Jacob Pullen. I expected this type of game because he was our first offensive option on the court. It didn't matter against who, he had 20 points for sure and in some situations, if you don't know what to do, he was a player that could make something happen on the court. We must adapt to this situation until he is coming back, hopefully soon. We had three really tough games in seven days against Andorra, Zvezda and UNICS. We also were empty in the second half, a lot of players were very tired. We must quickly recover, as soon as possible, because we have a very important game on Saturday in the Adriatic League, and have three more games before the break, against Borac, UNICS and Mega. Every game is important in the EuroCup, but we cannot expect too much in Kazan. We are focusing on the two last rounds, which will be decisive because UNICS will definitely be first in our group. We will fight with Gran Canaria and Andorra for the second position until the end."
PRIFTIS, DIMITRIS
UNICS Kazan
"Congratulations to the players. We had a good game. We won clearly. It is our third win in a row, so it gets us closer to the next stage of the EuroCup. We knew it was going to be tough because Mornar, they have a very good offensive mind and go to high scores. They have multiple threats from outside, from inside, so we expected a tough game and if we wouldn't play good defense, we would have less possibilities to win. We have to be focused on the next game. We expect a different game next week in Kazan. We know that some things will be changed, like Hamilton's addition. He is huge and a very good shot blocker, and we expect a different picture - defensively, at least, from Mornar. And I have to mention that missing Pullen is important. He is one of the main scorers in Mornar."

Players

MORGAN, JORDAN
UNICS Kazan
"For us, it is all about defense, so we want to set a tone on the defensive end, make it difficult and we did that. It was an up-and-down game. They are a tough team, they are physical, and they have a lot of talent. So we had to lock in. We knew it was going to be a 40-minute game and we got the separation in the second half."
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