BC UNICS

Summary

BC UNICS (Russian: БК УНИКС) is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League, and formerly played in the EuroLeague. On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1]

BC UNICS
BC UNICS logo
LeaguesVTB United League
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
HistoryBC UNICS
(1991–present)
ArenaBasket-Hall Kazan
Capacity7,482
LocationKazan, Russia
Team colorsGreen, White
   
PresidentYevgeny Bogachev
Team managerValery Kolesnikov
Head coachVelimir Perasović
Championships1 EuroCup
1 Russian Championship
3 Russian Cups
1 North European League
1 EuroChallenge
Websiteunics.ru

Their home arena is Basket-Hall Kazan.

History edit

1991-1999 edit

UNICS was established in 1991. Though officially the club's men's professional club was founded in 1991 (when it first began to play in the lowest level of the national pro leagues), UNICS traces its origins back to KSU's college team Burevestnik, which participated in the USSR student championships from 1957. Because of this, the name 'UNICS' is an abbreviation – UNIversity, Culture, Sport.[citation needed]

Between 1994 and 1997, UNICS secured a berth in Russia's first division. In 1997, UNICS was promoted to the Russian Basketball Super League A, which was at the time the top-tier level Russian league. A year later, Yevgeny Bogachev, the chairman of the National Bank of the Tatarstan, became the president of the club.[citation needed]

2000-2019 edit

The team placed second to CSKA in the Russian Basketball Super League in 2001 and 2002, a year in which it also reached the Saporta Cup semifinals, losing against the Greek club Maroussi in the semifinals. UNICS' first title was the Russian Cup in March 2003, with an 81–82 overtime victory over CSKA. Kazan hosted the FIBA Europe League final four, which was eventually named the FIBA EuroChallenge, in April 2004. UNICS won its regular season group, and advanced to the final four, where the club was crowned the FIBA Europe League champions. The MVP of the tournament's final four. By the 2005–06 season, UNICS went one level up, and made its ULEB Cup (later named EuroCup) debut. However, things turned south quickly, as UNICS lost at home against Roma in the tournament's eighth finals’ second leg, and crashed out. The team the next season made it to the ULEB Cup semifinals, before losing to the eventual league champs Real Madrid. It also returned to the Russian League finals, losing against CSKA.[citation needed]

In the 2007–08 season, UNICS made it to the ULEB Cup (now called EuroCup) Final Eight, but fell to Akasvayu Girona in the quarterfinals. UNICS finally broke through in the EuroCup in the 2010–11 season, by winning its regular season and Last 16 groups, before sweeping its quarterfinal series against Pepsi Caserta. UNICS beat KK Cedevita 87–66, in the semifinals, behind 27 points from Terrell Lyday, and registered a 92–77 win against Cajasol Sevilla, in the title game. Marko Popović had a EuroCup Finals record of 11 assists, to lead UNICS to the title. In the Russian League, UNICS had a 21–6 record, to finish the regular season atop the standings, but then went out in the playoff semifinals, after a five-game duel against BC Khimki. The club then competed in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in the following season.[citation needed] It made its EuroLeague debut in the 2011–12 season. In the Russian League it finished first at the end of the regular season, and reached the playoff semifinals.[citation needed]

2020-present edit

Jarrell Brantley left the team in early 2022 due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2] The team is suing him for $250,000, and trying to prevent him from signing with a G League team.[2] Similarly, Americans Isaiah Canaan, John Brown, and John Holland left the team after the invasion.[3]

On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1]

Lorenzo Brown and Marco Spissu decided not to break their contracts and stayed with the team until the end of VTB League.[citation needed]

Honours edit

Domestic competitions edit

Champions (1): 2023
Champions (3): 2003, 2009, 2014

European competitions edit

Champions (1): 2011
Champions (1): 2004
Champions (1): 2003

Season by season edit

Season Tier Division Pos. Russian Cup European competitions Other competitions
1997–98 1 Superleague A 7th 3 Korać Cup GS
1998–99 1 Superleague A 5th 2 Saporta Cup R32
1999–00 1 Superleague A 3rd 3 Korać Cup EF
2000–01 1 Superleague A 2nd 2 Saporta Cup SF
2001–02 1 Superleague A 2nd 2 Saporta Cup QF
2002–03 1 Superleague A 3rd Winner 3 FIBA Champions Cup QF NEBL C
2003–04 1 Superleague A 2nd Third place 3 FIBA Europe League C
2004–05 1 Superleague A 3rd Runner-up 3 FIBA Europe League QF
2005–06 1 Superleague A 4th Third place 2 ULEB Cup EF
2006–07 1 Superleague A 2nd Runner-up 2 ULEB Cup QF
2007–08 1 Superleague A 6th Semifinals 2 ULEB Cup QF
2008–09 1 Superleague A 3rd Winner 2 Eurocup T16
2009–10 1 Superleague A 3rd Runner-up 2 Eurocup T16 United League RU
2010–11 1 PBL 3rd 1 Euroleague QR2 United League 3rd
2 Eurocup C
2011–12 1 PBL 5th 1 Euroleague QF United League RU
2012–13 1 PBL 6th 1 Euroleague QR2 United League QF
2 Eurocup QF
2013–14 1 VTB United League 3rd Winner 2 Eurocup RU
2014–15 1 VTB United League 6th Second qualifying 1 Euroleague RS
2 Eurocup SF
2015–16 1 VTB United League 2nd First qualifying 2 Eurocup EF
2016–17 1 VTB United League 5th Round of 64 1 EuroLeague RS
2017–18 1 VTB United League 4th 2 EuroCup QF
2018–19 1 VTB United League 3rd First round 2 EuroCup SF
2019–20 1 VTB United League 4th 2 EuroCup R16
2020–21 1 VTB United League 2nd 2 EuroCup RU
2021–22 1 VTB United League 3rd 1 EuroLeague SP United League Supercup 3rd
2022–23 1 VTB United League 1st United League Supercup 7th

Players edit

Current roster edit

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

UNICS roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age
PG 1   Dimitrijević, Nenad 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 26 – (1998-02-23)23 February 1998
C 3   Reynolds, Jalen 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1992-12-30)30 December 1992
SG 4   Komolov, Artem 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 30 – (1993-06-01)1 June 1993
SG 5   Kulagin, Dmitrii 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 31 – (1992-07-01)1 July 1992
PF 7   Labeyrie, Louis 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1992-02-11)11 February 1992
PG 8   Zaytsev, Vyacheslav 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 34 – (1989-08-28)28 August 1989
PG 9   Knight, Marcos 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 34 – (1989-09-24)24 September 1989
F 13   Tikhonenko, Mark 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 26 – (1998-03-13)13 March 1998
C 21   Bako, Ismaël 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 28 – (1995-10-10)10 October 1995
F 22   Stulenkov, Alexandr 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1992-08-09)9 August 1992
G 24   Kolesnikov, Evgeny 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 28 – (1995-12-26)26 December 1995
F 25   Odinokov, Vladislav 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 24 – (2000-03-22)22 March 2000
C 31   Lazarev, Ivan 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 33 – (1991-01-31)31 January 1991
SG 32   Green, Erick 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 32 – (1991-05-09)9 May 1991
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  •   Djordje Varagic
  •   Artur Bigeev
  •   Milan Karakas
Team manager
  •   Mikhail Kolesnikov

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  •   Injured

  • Roster
Updated: July 25, 2023

Depth chart edit

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Ismaël Bako Jalen Reynolds Ivan Lazarev
PF Louis Labeyrie Aleksandr Stulenkov Mark Tikhonenko
SF Dmitry Kulagin Artem Komolov Vladislav Odinokov
SG Marcos Knight Erick Green Evgeny Kolesnikov
PG Nenad Dimitrijević Vyacheslav Zaytsev

Notable players edit

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.
bold – FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Russian edit

Foreign edit

bold – former NBA players; Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

  Milan Gurović (2004) and   Hüseyin Beşok (2005) shortly were under contract with UNICS Kazan, but never played a single game for the team.

(*) former NBA champions

Head coaches edit

bold – Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

References edit

  1. ^ a b "EuroLeague suspended Russian teams". basketnews.com.
  2. ^ a b "Unics Kazan reportedly suing Jarrell Brantley for $250,000". Eurohoops. March 4, 2022.
  3. ^ "More than 50 people. Which of the foreigners left the Russian sports clubs :: Football :: RBC Sport". March 5, 2022. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  4. ^ "Unics Kazan tabs Pedoulakis for bench". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-11-28.
  5. ^ "Unics releases Pedoulakis, welcomes back Pashutin". Archived from the original on 2014-12-04. Retrieved 2014-11-28.

External links edit

  • Official Site (in Russian)
  • Eurobasket.com Team Info