Sarunas Jasikevicius: 'Itoudis has left behind a good team'

In the 14th round of the EuroLeague, where Fenerbahçe Beko defeated France's AS Monaco 86-74, head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius stated that they want to be successful as a team and will work toward that goal.

Answering questions at the press conference held after the match played at the Ülker Sports and Event Hall, the Lithuanian coach began his remarks by thanking the team and the fans.

Emphasizing that both the fans and the club welcomed him very warmly, Jasikevicius noted that they were very good in the first half of the match and established dominance over the opponent in rebounding.

Stating that AS Monaco is one of the Final Four teams and that they achieved an important victory, the Lithuanian coach said they want to progress with small steps.

Highlighting that his team played very good defense in the second half, Jasikevicius continued as follows:

"It was good defensively. The opponent was held to 29 points, and I am very happy in that regard. We need to build on this and move forward. We have a league match ahead. This is very important. We need to be very good in the Turkish League as well. It is a very important opportunity for us to work. The next match in the EuroLeague is against Zalgiris. Zalgiris is a playoff team, and it is always difficult to play against them."

The 47-year-old coach, who mentioned that he had previously worked with 3 players on the current roster and had only had one short practice session with the team, concluded his words as follows:

"We need to work and fight together. I would love to develop everyone. The important thing is that we can be successful as a team. The last 24 hours have been very crazy. Right now, I don't know if I'm in Asia or Europe; I'm in a lost state. It is difficult for me to make a major contribution in such a short time. You all know Itoudis' level, so we played with small touches without making too many changes. I have taken over a team that is really well-coached and experienced. What I did today was just to help the players reflect on the court what they worked on with Dimitris. We talked with the team about the fact that the rebounding numbers were not good, and the other team should not have taken more shots than us. Thanks to offensive rebounds, we had the chance to have more ball possession."

News Source: 12punto