Neven Spahija: “I have enormous respect for Trieste”

The second game of the regular season for Umana Reyer Venezia’s men’s first team, which is set to face its first road game of the season against Pallacanestro Trieste.

The Orogranata arrive at PalaTrieste in good form, having started the season with a win against Cantù and confirmed their positive momentum in the BKT EuroCup with a decisive victory over the Skyliners Frankfurt.

On the other side, Trieste is determined to secure its first points of the season. In their season opener, the Giuliani came close to pulling off an upset on the road in Milan, succumbing to the Italian champions only in the final minutes. In front of their home crowd, the Trieste team will therefore try to turn their strong performance from the first game into their first league win.

The matchup between Pallacanestro Trieste and Umana Reyer Venezia is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the PalaTrieste. “We know their club has gone through a challenging period with the change in ownership and that their roster isn’t quite complete yet, but they’re a spirited team full of pride. Trieste has a great basketball tradition: perhaps, looking at the roster on paper, some might think they won’t pose a threat to the so-called ‘big teams,’ but we all saw their first game. They went toe-to-toe in Milan, losing to the Italian champions only in the final two minutes,” said Neven Spahija.

“I have enormous respect for the work the club, the coach, and the players are doing,” he added. They’ve added a center like Luka Brajković, who didn’t play against Olimpia, and we know full well how difficult it can be to play in a raucous arena with their fans cheering them on. For our part, we’ll be fully focused and attentive: we’re not interested in predictions based on paper stats. We want to be 100% present and play our brand of basketball.”