Source: fbu.ua
Ukraine national team head coach Ainars Bagatskis shared his thoughts with the FBU press service following his team’s 96-92 victory in a friendly against Lithuania.
“Of course, we are happy because it’s always rewarding to beat one of Europe’s top teams on their home turf. Winning in Lithuania means a lot. It shows we accomplished something significant. Ultimately, in basketball, the most important thing is the win.
The quality of our play could have been a bit better, but we need to keep improving and focus on the details. We have to be smarter in certain situations. Today’s game was different because we played with Kovlyar in the lineup. Kovlyar, Lukashov, and Mykhailiuk shared the point guard duties. We committed fewer turnovers than we did against Angola. We didn’t lose the rebounding battle; the game was close. In the clutch moments, perhaps we were a bit luckier than the Lithuanians.
One more thing I want to emphasize: this victory and the quality of our performance won’t mean anything if we don’t play just as well in a few days against Georgia. We need to be just as physical, aggressive, and smart.
We made some rotation changes in this match, but I won’t dwell on them. We adjusted our defense slightly, but not much. The key factor was physicality. Now we have to calm down. Every game is important, but the real and most crucial match will be in four days.”
Related Stories
