Hayes talks about upcoming battle against ASVEL 2

Having secured two big wins on both the national and international stage last week, Zalgiris is set to take on another EuroLeague test in Zalgirio Arena this Friday, when they face off against ASVEL Villeurbanne.

Zalgiris turned up the excitement with an 86-73 win over Real Madrid last Thursday, and followed it up with an 88-70 victory over Rytas Vilnius just a couple days later.

Zalgiris big man Nigel Hayes, who dropped 15 points in each of the two games, took the time to talk to Zalgiris TV about the upcoming battles against the French champions.

“We work extremely hard in practices, we expect a lot from ourselves, as does the coaching staff. It’s good that we’re able to get a reward for all that hard work we did throughout the week. Hopefully we can keep the same recipe that we used to win those two games and keep moving forward.”

Zalgiris’ upcoming opponent started the season with two victories against Greek giants Olympiakos (82-63) and Panathinaikos (79-78), but their streak was stopped by Bayern, who dismantled ASVEL by a 41-point margin, 104-63.

Hayes expects the team’s fans to keep the sold-out roll going, and hopes to see a packed Zalgirio Arena in the team’s third home game.

“Like I always say, I appreciate the fans. Thank you guys very much. So the only thing I ever ask for is to cheer when we’re winning, cheer when we’re losing, and cheer in between. Everyone not only in the city, but the country – they’re all into basketball, and it’s definitely a reflection – you see that at the games, everyone’s always standing, cheering like it’s the last-second shot throughout the whole game. It’s always great to play in front of that atmosphere and that type of crowd.”