By Aris Barkas and Yılmazcem Ozardıc/ info@eurohoops.net
On October 25, 2017, Zach Auguste scored 8 points on the road for Panathinaikos Athens against CSKA Moscow in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. In theory that was a good start, but despite his Greek heritage, Auguste seems to thrive more in Turkey.
Fast forward to October 2, 2018. Almost a year later, Zach Auguste wears the jersey of Galatasaray Istanbul, and he is making his 7DAYS EuroCup debut in stunning fashion. The 25-year-old big man scored 18 points on 9-for-14 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds on the way to a 29 performance index rating in his team’s 84-73 win over Morabanc Andorra.
“It felt good,” Auguste said of the victory. “I think we played great as a team. We came out there, established ourselves early, played great defense. We are just excited to have such a start and get on a roll. The EuroCup is another chance for us to grow, develop our game and showcase it on a high level. We are looking forward to trying to beat the top teams. I have gained a lot of experience in the EuroLeague; I had great teammates who I learned from. I will try to translate all this over here and help my team as much as possible.”
After four years at Notre Dame University, Auguste played – with impressive results – for one season in Turkey for Usak Sportif, then signed with Panathinaikos during the summer of 2017. This season, he is the man in the middle for Galatasaray.
“Istanbul is a beautiful city and Turkey is a wonderful country,” Auguste told the Turkish edition of Eurohoops.
Like Istanbul, Auguste is also a quite exotic blend. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is part-Greek from the side of his mother and part-Haitian from the side of his father. He has an American and Greek passport and speaks English, Greek and Haitian Creole.
“I am a person who likes to travel, who likes to eat in different restaurants, and in this respect, I am in a great city,” he says of his return to Istanbul.
On top of that, Auguste loves the passion of European fans – in this case, those of Galatasaray.
“They will be a great advantage for us,” he said. “It is very important for me to play in front of fans who can give me energy during the game.”
He transforms that energy into thunderous dunks and impressive blocks. In fact, he had five blocks against Andorra.
The sample is small yet, but Auguste is playing with a confidence that he was missing last season, and the reason might be simple. When Galatasaray approached him, it was clear he was destined to be the starting center of the team. And that was the key to his decision to play for “Cimbom.”
“Of course, it was important,” he said. “I came to this team to show who I am and to get minutes on the court. I have set as a goal to have the best possible individual performance and make the best possible contribution to my team in order to win. After all, this is a team game”.
With a game in Germany against Ulm coming up this week, Auguste and Galatasaray will be tested on the road. Can they repeat a similar performance like the one they had against Andorra? It remains to be seen, but Auguste believes that this is going to be a season to remember.
“I think Galatasaray is a good team and I think that we will have a special season!”