Bagatskis: We were losing focus in attack. The Italians quickly punished us and turned our losses into points.

Head coach of the Ukrainian national basketball team Ainars Bagatskis commented defeat our team in the 2023 World Cup qualifier against Italy (75:85).

“Firstly, I want to say that I enjoyed the game. I had the best position on the court. The hall, of course, was for Italy, but I enjoyed the atmosphere on the site.

“As I said before the match, the most important thing is the desire to fight for the whole 40 minutes. We played against Italy twice in the summer and for 16 minutes in the matches against them we showed high-quality basketball. Today we have had ups and downs. When we played well, didn’t rush into decisions, forced Italy to play half the court, everything worked out for us. But we lost focus in certain situations in attack. The Italians quickly punished us in fast breaks and turned our losses into points. This is the key point. Sometimes the most important thing is just not to lose the ball and sometimes the best pass is a shot, after which you need to return to defense.

“I have lived in Ukraine for seven years, and I feel like a Ukrainian. But I can’t feel how the Ukrainian players feel about the war. Today the Italian fans really supported us and it was a special feeling. But that was before the game, and there are no friends during the match. Nevertheless, thank you very much for supporting Ukraine.”

“I enjoy working with these guys. As for my contract, I don’t want to say anything in advance. During my work in the Ukrainian national team, there was a change of generations. We will have the last word against the Netherlands in Riga and after that we can talk about the contract situation.”

“My idea from the first day with the Ukrainian national team was to attract new players, young players, young talents. Every time we had the opportunity to train in the summer, we added new basketball players to the roster. All the best Ukrainian basketball players were in the game and got playing time, including debutant Oleksandr Kovlyar. With his attitude towards work, he has a bright future with the national team. Another player I wanted to work with is Maksim Shulga. He’s playing in the States now and he’s next. So there are talents and, in my opinion, basketball in Ukraine is constantly moving forward. We must win the war and continue to progress.”

The Bagatskis team failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup – the blue-yellows are in fifth place and theoretically will not be able to climb one line up. On February 26, Ukraine will close the qualification for the world championship with a nominally home match in Riga against the Netherlands.