BC "Prometey" (Ukraine) - BC "Unicaja" (Spain). February 8. 19:00. Champions League. Second group round. Group "K". Zaporozhye. Palace of Sports "Yunist". Broadcast - prometeybc.com, Dmart TV, Youtube.com/FIBA
Tomorrow, on February 8, the current champion of Ukraine "Prometey" will start the match with the Spanish "Unicaja" in the second group round of the Champions League. Prometey's debut in the Top 16 of the tournament was put off for a week due to the postponement of the match with the Romanian club Cluj-Napoca on March 3. The coaching staff of the "red and whites" is still worried about this moment, the team's head coach Ronen Ginzburg told the club's press service.
Of course, we are not in the best situation before the match with Unicaja. The guys did not have playing practice last week, but now, as far as possible, we try to prepare for the game to the maximum. We will focus on defensive actions. If we manage the game in defense, everything will work out for us.
Our matches with Hapoel showed how important the game rhythm is. Before the first match we had a two-week break and we had a very bad game in Jerusalem, conceding a huge number of points in the first quarter. Then we played two Super League matches, restored the necessary conditions and it immediately benefited us in the next confrontations with Hapoel.
Prometey's first rival in Group K of the Champions League is the most authoritative team in our quartet. Unicaja from Malaga, a city in southern Spain located on the Mediterranean coast, became the champion of their country in 2006. A year earlier, Unicaja won the Spanish Cup. The club from Malaga can also boast of significant achievements in the European arena: in 2001 they won the Korac Cup, and in the 2016/2017 season - the European Cup. The great tradition of the club is evidenced at least by the fact that for 15 seasons they participated in the Euroleague.
Unicaja maintains its reputation on the continent this season as well. They won the first group round, finishing higher in the final table than Limoges from France, Greek Lavrio and Russian Nizhny Novgorod. But the second group stage "Prometey" rival began with a home defeat by "Cluj-Napoca" (73:79). However, last week the Spanish club rehabilitated in front of its fans, beating the Belgian "Ostend" (75:59).
"I think Unicaja is a more balanced team than Hapoel," said Ronen Ginzubrg. "They have many great players - guards, centers and forwards. We should not forget that Unicaja represents the forceful Spanish league and, in general, is a club with a big name and good traditions. "
Prometey's rival has several guards (Dario Brizuila, Alberto Diaz, Norris Cole, Jaime Fernandez, Francisco Alonso) who can show both sniper and dispatch qualities. Unicaja holds the current record for the three-point shooting season: the Spanish team stopped at 57.7% when they beat French Dijon on the first day of November - 83:54 (15 accurate shots out of 26). If we talk about the players of the front line, then back in the match with "Cluj" the main center Michael Eric was injured. He is the record holder of the current season of the Champions League in the number of block shots in one match (5 - in the match against "Cluj"). In recent games, centers Dejan Kravic and Ruben Guerrero, as well as American forward Tim Abromaitis are trying to replace him.
Unicaja also has many game problems. Otherwise, the team would hardly be in such a low 15th position in their championship. Probably, the mediocre performance in the championship was the reason for the resignation of the team's head coach Fotis Katsikaris.
We will believe that, in addition to a number of Spanish clubs, Prometey will pick up the keys to this opponent, starting the tournament of the 16 best teams of the Champions League with victory! The course of the game "Prometey" - "Unicaja" can be watched on February 8 starting at 19:00 on our club website, YouTube channels FIBA and Dmart TV. To buy tickets for the game, you need to use the "Online Tickets" section on our club website: prometeybc.com.
