Jasikevicius goes in-depth about the EuroLeague opener 0

Zalgiris Kaunas tips off their EuroLeague campaign this Friday, as they take on Baskonia Vitoria in front of a sold-out crowd in Zalgirio Arena. On the eve of the game, coach Sarunas Jasikevicius traditionally talked to the press about the upcoming opponents.

Zalgiris also started last season with a game against Baskonia and it was the Basque club coming out on top after a hail of three-pointers.

Sarunas Jasikevicius pointed out that the team’s play style hasn’t changed much, with a run-and-gun mentality being something the opponents are keen of.

“They play the same way how Baskonia is used to. Fast breaks will be very important and closing out on threes. When you play against teams like these, you’ve got to limit those easy points. Fast breaks coming from Henry, Shengelia, Shields. This is one of the main factors – whether they get those easy points or we’ll force them to play positional basketball, five against five. In that case, I think we’ve got the upper hand.”

One of the main acquisitions of the Vitoria side was EuroCup MVP Pierria Henry, who averaged 10.4 points, 5.3 assists and 14.2 efficiency throughout the campaign. Jasikevicius pointed out the talented guard as the motor of the offense.

“Him personally, I think he interests a lot of teams. He’s had solid seasons both in Bursa and Kazan. He’s one of those players who can take the ball and decide a lot of things alone. We’ll be hoping we can come to help in time, since stopping him one-on-one is very difficult.”

Zalgiris last win against Baskonia came all the way back in the 2016-2017 season, when the Lithuanians took the 84-79 win in the regular season’s final game. After that, it’s been four consecutive victories for the Vitoria side. Jasikevicius doesn’t see this as a trend, though.

“I don’t think so. We had a look at the last game in Vitoria, when we lost with a lot of good things we did. Sometimes it just adds up, with one team having a better game. As much as we’ve played, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that. It would be nice to finally beat them, of course.”

Jasikevicius was eager to see how his team fares at the highest level, despite having a couple Betsafe-LKL games to test themselves.

“It seemed like we look pretty good in the first couple LKL games. But this is a whole new level. A whole new situation. We eagerly await tomorrow to see how we look playing against those really good teams, to see what we can and can’t do, and how we deal with the nerves that come with the start of the EuroLeague season.”