The 35-point margin of victory was the most in Reyer history
Resurgent Reyer humbles Hamburg for record victory
Spielbericht
3 Lesezeit
Regular Season
Round 6 of 18
Regular Season
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Umana Reyer VeniceURV
9055
Veolia Towers HamburgHAM
group a
Overview
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"We are ready,” affirmed Umana Reyer Venice coach Neven Spahija, before earning a club record 35-point victory over a winless Veolia Towers Hamburg team.
Despite some travel disruption, Spahija’s team won a recent domestic game while playing below the level they would like. With optimum preparation, they didn’t have such issues on Wednesday night, as they overcame a rough first quarter to totally dominate their German opponents, eventually winning 90-55 – the club's best point differential in a EuroCup game, beating their previous record of 26.
No strangers to adversity this season, the Venetians have bounced back from losing their first two EuroCup games of the season. The only game they have lost since then was by a single point in overtime, to U-BT Cluj-Napoca. Reyer now holds a 3-3 record and is showing no signs of stopping the momentum.
“We played the game just as we practiced. Everybody was ready, everybody was healthy and we shared the minutes. The energy was the right energy,” said Spahija.
As well as sharing minutes, they shared the offensive load, unselfishly scoring as a unit throughout, primarily doing the majority of their damage in the paint. Each Reyer player made a dent in the scoring column, creating extreme challenges for Hamburg, who could not contain them. Kyle Wiltjer was the headlining act, recording 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Smashing another club EuroCup record, Reyer also totalled 56 rebounds, commanding the boards with ease.
“It feels great. EuroCup’s a tough competition, so every time we win, we want to be happy as a group,” said Wiltjer. “We need to be unselfish and be a complete team. Right now, we’re playing great defense and attacking unselfishly, so just have to keep being positive.”
Positivity is harder to come by for Hamburg, which fell to 0-6 with the brutal loss. Still winless in European and domestic competition, Coach Benka Barloschsky’s side are desperate for a change of fortune. Though the loss will hurt, the young head coach found silver linings in how his team looked when executing properly.
“I think that when we stuck to the plan and we created the shots that we wanted to create, there were some opportunities,” Barloschky said. “We didn’t take our opportunities tonight, we didn’t make the shots from the three-point line, didn’t finish at the rim. When we defended 5-on-5, we looked well, but obviously when you don’t make shots, it invites the other team to run, which is what Venice does best, they run, they play very fast and that’s what blew the game open tonight.”
In their desperate quest for a win, Hamburg will face Slask Wroclaw (2-3) on Tuesday. Elsewhere, Reyer hopes to carry its brilliant form to Slovenia on Wednesday, when it competes against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in a tough clash.
