2001-02Regular SeasonRound 13
February 07, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA
Barcelona assured itself second place in Group B and endangered Ulker's chances of survival by beating the Turkish guests with ease, 85-64, on Thursday night. Ulker, which began as a constant menace for the hosts, ended up fading on court and Barcelona prevailed after a strong reaction led by Arturas Karnisovas from the 6.25 line and Roberto Dueñas in the paint. This win improves Barcelona's record to 10-3, and Ulker drops to 8-5 but still with options to make it to the Top 16. The hosts were led by the 18 points by Karnisovas, while Rodrigo de la Fuente and Efthimios Rentzias added 17 each, and the latter added 12 rebounds. Roberto Dueñas hit 14 points plus 12 boards. For the losers, Harun Erdenay had 16 points and Miljan Glojevic added 10.

The game started with both teams collecting offense mistakes, but somehow Ulker got the better part of it, and got into a 2-5 lead with an unbelievable three-pointer by Yildrim, whose intention was to pass the ball. Barcelona was always behind in the score, until Arturas Karnisovas hit a three that neutralized the deficit and put the hosts ahead by 1, 15-14. At that point the game had improved, even though the scoring was somewhat poor with a 15-18 score at the end of the first tenminutes.

The second quarter was much more fast in all aspects. Karnisovas was the main offensive weapon for the Catalans with his three-pointers (he netted 2 in 3 minutes), but Ulker came back with a 0-6 run for 20-26. It was clear that the team which would pull away by 10 would be in total control of the game, and the guests looked more like they would do it. Varejao stepped on court for Barcelona, hoping to be the medicine for coach Aito Garcia Reneses' team, since Ulker was batter both in offense and defense and William Eley was outplaying Dueñas everywhere (the latter had collected 4 turnovers in the first half). But Varejao couldn't do much as three free throws by Erdenay built a 32-36 lead again for Ulker. The teams went to the break with 34-39 after a three on the buzzer by Miljan Goljevic.

Ulker came back on court strong, and this put together with the 13 turnovers of the Catalans put the Turks away by 7, 43-50. Yet another three by Karnisovas would be the basket that would change the direction of the game because from the 47-54 to the end of the game, Ulker would score only 10 more points for the rest of the game, while Barcelona sped up to victory, and at the end of the third was already leading by 2, 60-58.

The fourth quarter saw how Barcelona outplayed the rival in every aspect, most significantly in rebounding (46-22 at the end of the game) and scoring, since the hosts built a 18-2 run from 51-56 in the third period to 69-58 in the fourth that literally destroyed all the options of the guests. Barcelona was scoring from everywhere outside by the hand of Rentzias and De la Fuente, and the inside game by Dueñas became dominant as it is supposed to. The partial score of the final period was 25-6 and it speaks for itself as the game ended with a 21-point lead for Barcelona and the crowd amazed at the reaction by its team.
Thursday, February 7, 2002
Edu Roca, Barcelona
No results found.
Referees: JUNGEBRAND, CARL; MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO; LAMONICA, LUIGI
Attendance: 5800
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona15192625
Ulker1821196
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona15346085
Ulker18395864
FC Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 RODRIGUEZ, NACHO 21:41 3 0/2 1/2   2 3 5 5 4 2   1 2 2 11
7 DE LA FUENTE, RODRIGO 26:25 17 4/8 1/2 6/8 1 2 3 1 1 1     4 6 16
9 OKULAJA, ADEMOLA 20:17 2   0/4 2/4 1   1 3 1 2     1 3 1
10 DIGBEU, ALAIN 17:27 7 2/3 1/2     1 1     2     2   2
12 DUENAS, ROBERTO 23:43 14 5/10   4/7 6 6 12 1   4     2 7 20
13 JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS 18:19 5 1/2 1/4   1   1 1   2 1 1 2   -1
14 RENTZIAS, EFTHYMIOS 30:10 17 6/11 1/3 2/4 7 5 12 1 1       2 4 24
16 VAREJAO, ANDERSON 5:50 2     2/2 1 1 2           1 1 4
19 KARNISOVAS, ARTURAS 36:08 18 1/2 4/7 4/6 1 7 8 3 2       2 5 28
Team             1 1     1          
Totals 200:00 85 19/38 9/24 20/31 20 26 46 15 9 14 1 2 18 28 105
        50% 37.5% 64.5%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
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
Ulker
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 LOLLIS, QUADRE-MICHAEL 28:18 8 4/7     1 5 6 2 2 2   1 5 2 9
5 PARS, ASIM 15:23 6 3/4       2 2     1     4 1 3
6 ABI, MUSTAFA 7:16 2 1/2                     1    
7 STELMAHERS, ROBERTS 18:35     0/2     1 1 1   1       3 2
8 GOLJOVIC, MILJAN 31:18 10 0/3 3/7 1/2 1   1     1     4 1 -1
9 ERDENAY, HAKKI HARUN 27:33 16 3/3 1/4 7/7       1 1 1     2 5 17
10 ELEY, WILLIAM KEITH 8:03 4 2/5     2 1 3 1 2 3     2   2
11 ACIK, TUTKU 16:19 4 1/1 0/1 2/2   2 2   1 3     1 2 4
12 GONLUM, KEREM 21:05 8 4/9     1 1 2 2   1 1   3 3 7
13 PACHULIA, ZAZA 7:11   0/1       2 2           1    
14 YILDIRIM, HALUK 11:26 3 0/2 1/2     1 1 2   2     4   -3
15 GULER, MURATCAN 7:33 3 1/1   1/2           2 1   1 1 1
Team             2 2   1           3
Totals 200:00 64 19/38 5/16 11/13 5 17 22 9 7 17 2 1 28 18 44
        50% 31.3% 84.6%
Head coach: DIDIN, MURAT
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
FC Barcelona
"After the break for the NTs I can feel that my team is tired, and it's difficult to practice at maximum intensity. To that we have to add the injuries, but my players overcame all obstacles, and from the third quarter they were let their rage come out and turned the game outside down. I can't forget about the crowd, which was great as usual."
DIDIN, MURAT
Ulker
"The key of the game is to be found in the third quarter, when they dominated us in defense, rebounding and the explosive fast breaks. Before the game I told my players that if we allowed them to play their fast break we would have no options to win, and that's what happened. In the last quarter our shooting percentage was awful."

Players

DE LA FUENTE, RODRIGO
FC Barcelona
"We have overcome all the obstacles to have a win that assures us the second place of the group. We have not thought of possible rivals in the Top 16 before the game, because whatever are the teams that we have to face there, it will be difficult. Very difficult. We could not take the risk of losing against Ulker. The crowd has been great once more, and they helped us to win."
ERDENAY, HAKKI HARUN
Ulker
"At the end of the third quarter we ceased to exist on court plus they dominated us on defense and rebounding. Rentzias and Dueñas were amazing tonight, and broke tha game open. We had nothing to do against them."
No results found.