By Stefan Djordjevic/ sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
Igokea is the only team this season that reached the Round of 16 after coming to the Basketball Champions League through qualifiers.
Keravnos, Bakken Bears, and Tsmoki-Minsk fell off but the Bosnian team managed to get ahead of Limoges CSP and none other than Hapoel Jerusalem in Group G in order to advance.
It was quite unexpected and marked as a huge success for the squad which, as coach Dragan Bajic put it, has the lowest budget and the draw didn’t go easy on them in the qualifiers as well as in the regular season.
He also believes their Group J is the toughest one in the playoffs but they will try to stand up to every opponent with high confidence and make things hard for the opposition.
His biggest issue, however, has been to balance out the obligations between the ABA League and BCL. He explains the loss to Tenerife at the start of the playoffs by a 20-point margin as the result of his team’s tiredness after the duel against Buducnost.
“We had a very hard game against Buducnost, a big deplete of energy as well as a tough game psychologically. It was very hard to get back to normal in two days,” Bajic said after the loss but far from it that he takes away anything from Tenerife. “I have to note that this is the real picture and everybody should be aware of the company we are currently among. I don’t want to search for any excuses for this loss or any other but this is a very strong team filled up at every position.”
He’s well aware that the road won’t get any easier going forward. “We are the only team that advanced this far coming from the qualifiers and that shows the quality of the teams here. Nor Burgos nor Riga trail behind Tenerife quality-wise. Our biggest problem is playing two leagues and the fatigue due to the number of games and the traveling will certainly get to us.”
Anthony Clemmons, the leading scorer of Igokea with 13.4 points on average, was also impressed by what Tenerife displayed against him (his first game this season in BCL in single digit) and his teammates.
“They’re a heavy hitter. They’re everything we expected them to be. Our guys pretty much gave everything they could, we fought. I’m happy for the effort our guys gave and I think this was definitely a good wake-up call. Something that helps us as a team and I know that we will be prepared better for the next game and for sure be ready.”
Aside from Clemmons, one of the guys that coach Bajic can count on to bounce back from this loss is captain Marko Josilo. The 28-year-old forward has grabbed the most rebounds this season in the BCL (42) without making a single block.
He is also the only Igokea player to have grabbed ten or more rebounds and has done it twice, against Limoges and Hapoel Jerusalem.
Jackie Carmichael, Edin Atic and Nikola Jovanovic follow the scoring sheets of Igokea with 11.8, 11.3, and 10.6 points respectively while the coach can also count on some young power such as Dalibor Ilic who’s got great potential, being one of the most talented players born in 2000, just waiting to erupt.
There’s also the ‘ace up Bajic’s sleeve’ in Steven Gray who joined Igokea mid-season, moving over from Peristeri, and who’s already shown that he can step up big time. Never count out the record-holder for the highest PIR in a single game.
Igokea has already made a breakthrough by getting into the playoffs and while they’re not dreaming of repeating the San Pablo Burgos‘ story (went from qualifiers to the title), they are set on giving their all without reserve and at the very least make things extremely hard for the rivals.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League