Sergio Scariolo, comes the ‘strange’ admission about the first half
Virtus Segafredo Bologna – Umana Reyer Venezia 82-68 (20-22; 34-36; 55-48)
In the third quarterfinal of the Final Eight of the Italian Cup Final Eight, scheduled at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Virtus Bologna crushed the resistance of Reyer Venezia by imposing 82-68 in a match that saw the Felsinei protagonists of a great second half, dopp an interval that had seen the teams go to rest on 36-34 for the Venetians.
In the press conference, ‘Black Vu’ coach Sergio Scariolo was very pleased with the win, which consnte his team to detach the pass for the semifinals. “I’m very happy to have passed the quarterfinal. We were very worried, and it showed. In the first half there was nervousness and tension, instead they very well. At halftime we tried to calm down a little bit, and quietly we were more relaxed on offense and more physical on defense. We started the third quarter with an attitude of a Euroleague team, digging the break that we then managed to maintain,” he began. “The key was defense, although obviously we are happy to see Toko attacking the iron, Milos making his assists, Beli putting up his shots, Hackett managing the team. I’m also happy with how Jaiteh came on the court in the second half after the difficulties of the first half, he defended well on Watt. We rotated to 12 by putting all the players in competition, there is no excuse for not being ready: everyone took the court in the Italian Cup. Now we file and recover, and it won’t be easy because many players have seniority and fatigue, the Euroleague wears out. Pride, competitiveness and class must come out. We hope to do that in two days,” he continued.
“Having ended the first half down only two points actually helped. I was hoping to finish under, but only by a little. So that you could tell that they had played the first half better, but without major breaks. But I am happy with the way the team came back on the court, with good defense and no hysteria. And with good contributions from many players. Milan’s defeat? To me it didn’t surprise, I’ve seen so many cups in so many different places, winning in a dry game is always difficult. And those who have psychological condition against more titled teams play better and without pressure. In a way it also happened to us today in the first half. Obviously in a team like ours you have to be able to live with pressure, otherwise you go and play against different kind of teams,” the coach concluded.
