Split 2013, European Championship diary: Entry 2
Opening ceremony
After the hard-fought victory against the Hungarian team from Debrecen and an extensive tactics briefing, it was off to the opening ceremony of the tournament directly on the beach promenade of the beautiful port city of Split.
The Studi-Basketball European Championship is the first major sporting event in Croatia since the country joined the EU at the beginning of July. As a result, the student event enjoys a great deal of attention and also state support, which was evident from the perfectly organized and very exposed opening ceremony.
Very good public relations work in the run-up, musical and acrobatic program items, live bands and a DJ to round off the event... everything was perfect on this wonderfully mild summer evening on the edge of the historic old town.
After this wonderful end to a successful day of sport, the Karlsruhe delegation now looked forward to the match against the seemingly overpowering opponents from Moscow....
2nd match against the University of Moscow
It quickly became clear during the warm-up...the opponent's starting five is completely!!! dunkable...
In the initial phase, our team did an excellent job and was even able to keep the game largely balanced. Our team put in a great performance against a perhaps somewhat surprised opponent. Towards the end of the first quarter, the Russian team was able to pull away somewhat and went into the first quarter break 11:18 behind.
The Muscovites were able to pull further away in the second quarter, although this was more due to the poor choice of shots by our boys than the strong play of their opponents.
However, the KIT team continued to put up a good fight and was able to reduce the deficit to 6 points midway through the second quarter (19:25). They trailed by 10 points at half-time, but anything was still possible for our players in the second half.
Our team continued to hold out after the break, but Moscow now made full use of its physical advantages and was able to open up an 18-point gap by the end of the quarter (37:55).
In the final period, the experienced Russian team was easily able to maintain and even extend its lead. However, a close game would at least have been possible on a great day for our players. Unfortunately, the shooting percentage did not allow for more on this day. All in all, the result was a deserved defeat against one of the tournament favorites (46:75).
Our coach Uli Himstedt also had this to say: "The boys tried everything, but we were only able to produce our normal performance at the start of the game. Now all our concentration is on the last group game".
Conclusion: The Russian team lived up to their role as favorites and now it's time for our boys to put the game behind them and focus all their energy on tomorrow's decisive match against the Portuguese team from Coimbra at 3:30 pm.
With a win, the quarter-finals of the European Championship may even be on the cards against the Croatian hosts.
As always, you can find a few impressions in our picture gallery for this entry!
Let's go boys! All the power for the next match!!!