The coach of the women’s basketball team notes that against North Macedonia he managed to play with a wide rotation and not overload his players
Women’s head coach Ukrainian national basketball team Evgeniy Murzin commented on the super confident victory over North Macedonia (98:49) in qualifying European Championship 2025.
“The main thing for us in this match was defense. Before the game we paid attention to Andzhelika Mitrashinovic and tried to make her work hard under pressure throughout the match. They constantly changed the players who played against her in defense. I can’t say that we did it perfectly, but we ruined the team play of our opponents. Front line basketball player Merritt Hempe also scored, but we tried to combine different defensive options, using a wide rotation. In general, as for me, the game turned out well, both in defense and in attack.”
“Yes, we started a little chaotically, looking for easy points – at the start there were several long-range attacks in a row, which we did not convert. Then we started playing smarter, started moving the ball more, found a rhythm in the game, and as a result we made 40% of three-pointers – this is a good indicator. We won rebounds, which is also very important: after the first half, the opponents made only one offensive rebound.”
“An important factor is that we managed to play with a wide rotation and not overload the girls. The last quarter was played by young basketball players and they let everyone play. This was also part of the game plan that we executed. Plus we made 27 assists, which means that the team played today. Everyone contributed, everyone played, so I congratulate Ukraine on their victory. We are preparing for the game with Serbia.”
Ukraine today won its first victory in qualifying group G. Let us recall that during the first window in November 2023, the blue-yellows first lost to Serbia on the road (40:82), and then lost to Portugal (63:78).
Three days later, on November 10, Murzin’s team will play a nominally “home” match with Serbia. The meeting will take place in Riga at the Olympic Center, starting at 21:30.
The final two matches in the group will take place in February 2025. In order to make it to the final part of the tournament, our team needs to either win its group or take one of the four best second places (there are 8 quartets in total in the qualifications).
Women’s EuroBasket 2025 will be held for the first time in four countries – Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic and Germany. The teams of these countries received places in the final part and will play each other for FIBA ranking points in Group I.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
