Source: youtube.com
Maksym Nikitin, forward for Volyn, reflected on the team’s season opener in the Super League:
“Greetings to everyone on the start of the Super League season. Our turnovers prevented us from achieving a positive result. You always want to begin the championship with a win, especially at home, where the team hasn’t won for a long time—I don’t even want to recall how long. Unfortunately, today we couldn’t give the fans a victory. It all came down to mistakes and turnovers. I don’t want to get personal, but I think those who watched the game have a general understanding of what the problem was.”
“The Kharkiv Sokoly lost today, so they’ll be even more motivated tomorrow. We’ll prepare, analyze, and try to secure that home win. No one intends to back down or give up. We’ll fight hard tomorrow and give it our all. Our roster isn’t deep enough to simply rotate two full lineups; we probably have about seven players ready for battle. Everyone needs to give their maximum effort for us to get a result.”
Nikita Voevoda, head coach of Volyn, shared his thoughts after the match:
“I want to congratulate all basketball fans and the city of Lutsk on the start of the new season. It was an interesting game for the spectators but nerve-wracking for the coach, especially me. We don’t have our main point guard available. Today, we tried to find someone to take on that role and responsibility. Bryan Starr got injured and is out for an unknown period; he’s undergoing examinations. I can’t say anything definite about him yet, but we found ourselves in a situation without our primary first guard, the organizer who controls the game on the court and creates opportunities for himself and teammates. We had a game plan on who to attack, but from the first minutes, we couldn’t implement it.”
“We struggled to get the ball to the players we wanted to rely on. The defenders applied strong pressure on the ball. Honestly, our guys didn’t quite handle it today. I understand some are playing out of position. Korol has never played as a point guard in his life. Klimov can somewhat cover that position, but he’s not a natural first guard either. Korol definitely isn’t a point guard. We’re trying to bring in young players, but we must understand their inexperience. There will be ups and downs, so patience is needed. We’re in this situation with a small rotation and a missing player.”
“We’re moving forward. Tomorrow is the game against Sokoly, who also lost today. We know they’ll be angrier tomorrow. I hope we’ll be angrier too. We need to find that edge because it feels like the coach is angrier than some players on the court. They’re running around unfocused, lacking concentration. Too many turnovers—22 in total—is impossible to win with. Everyone sees the highlights—Nikitin, Klimov, and others—but it’s tough for us on the court right now. We’re still in progress. We had some positives, winning in unofficial matches, but losing a player is affecting us now.”
Javion May, guard for Kyiv-Basket, commented on the victory:
“We played together as a team and achieved this result collectively. It was my first game here, and we won by playing solid defense. We listened to the coach, trusted the plan, secured rebounds, and ultimately won the match. It all came down to defense. We followed the coach’s instructions and played as a cohesive unit on defense. That’s why we succeeded.”
Valeriy Plekhanov, head coach of Kyiv-Basket, addressed the fans after the match:
“I congratulate all the supporters on the start of the championship. These are turbulent times, but we started very well. I believe we must keep working and moving forward. I thanked the players in the locker room. Unfortunately, we were the last team in the Super League to begin training. We still have many mistakes in both offense and defense. I’m not very satisfied with our defense. Conceding 82 points is not our standard. There were many poor decisions that led to easy points for the opposition. However, I appreciate the players’ character and desire.”
“I think it will take three to five more games for the players to fully understand each other and for our style of play to improve gradually. I’m working on that. Volyn is a very strong team this year. I wish them success first and foremost. We won thanks to our defense. Once we started executing all the agreements, things went relatively well from an outside perspective. But again, I’m not happy with the style of play—only the result. I told the players in the locker room that this victory won’t matter if we don’t perform better tomorrow against Rivne.”
