BC UNICS

BC UNICS
Leagues	VTB United League EuroCup
Founded	1991
History	BC UNICS (1991–present)
Arena	Basket-Hall Kazan
Capacity	7,482
Location	Kazan, Russia
Team colors	Green, White
President	Yevgeny Bogachev
Team manager	Valery Kolesnikov
Head coach	Dimitrios Priftis
Championships	1 EuroCup 3 Russian Cups 1 North European League 1 EuroChallenge
Website	unics.ru
Home Away

BC UNICS (Russian: БК УНИКС) is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League and EuroCup. Their home arena is Basket-Hall Kazan.

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, and won the all-Soviet college title twice – in 1965 and 1970. Because of this, the name 'UNICS' is quite an abbreviation – UNI(versity), C(ulture), S(port).

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.

History

UNICS has gone a long way towards helping Russian basketball since the club was established in 1991. Between 1994 and 1997, UNICS secured a berth in Russia's first division, and then made a smashing debut, establishing itself among the top five teams in the country. UNICS had already played in European competitions in 1997, but the new millennium happened to be a turning point for the club. The team placed second to CSKA in the Russian Basketball Super League in 2001 and 2002, the 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 electrifying 81–82 overtime victory over CSKA. UNICS' fans did not have to wait long to see their team win a European title, too. Kazan hosted the FIBA Europe League final four, which was eventually named the FIBA EuroChallenge, in April 2004, and UNICS made sure of its opportunity. UNICS signed Saulius Štombergas, Eurelijus Žukauskas, and Chris Anstey, and then won its regular season group, and advanced to the final four, which was held on its own floor, and where the club was crowned the FIBA Europe League champions. The MVP of the tournament's final four, Martin Müürsepp, scored 22 points, in an 87–63 win over Maroussi, in the title game. By the 2005–06 season, UNICS went one level up, and made its ULEB Cup (later named EuroCup) debut, where they tied the best regular season record in the competition's history. However, things turned south quickly, as UNICS lost at home against Roma, for the only time all season, in the tournament's eighth finals’ second leg, and crashed out earlier than expected. UNICS got stronger for the next season, keeping the core group of the previous season's side, while adding Darjuš Lavrinovič to reunite with his twin brother Kšyštof Lavrinovič, in a twin-towers set full of talent. The team 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 perennial champion CSKA.

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. Once in the finals, UNICS thrashed KK Cedevita 87–66, in the semifinals, behind 27 points from Terrell Lyday, and registered a no-doubt-about-it 92–77 win against Cajasol Sevilla, in the title game. Marko Popović had 18 points and a EuroCup Finals record of 11 assists, to lead UNICS to the title. In the Russian League, UNICS marched to a 21–6 record, to finish the regular season atop the standings with room to spare, but then went out in the playoff semifinals, after a grueling five-game duel against BC Khimki. The club then entered into new waters, eager to prove that it belonged among the European continent’s best, as it would compete in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in the following season.

On the heels of one of the greatest seasons in club history, UNICS looked to continue its rise, as it made its EuroLeague debut in the 2011–12 season. The reigning EuroCup champion was a force to be reckoned with in the previous season, as it not only marched through the EuroCup, but also made noise in the Russian League, where it finished first at the end of the regular season, and reached the playoff semifinals. One of the secrets to the club’s success was that it had managed to keep a core of star players for several years. Players like Marko Popović, Maciej Lampe, Terrell Lyday, Vladimir Veremeenko, and Kelly McCarty helped write a golden chapter in UNICS' club history. Before that, UNICS had put Kazan, Russia, on the European basketball map, and became an "ambassador" for the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian federation.

Honours

Domestic competitions

• Russian Cups

Champions (3): 2003, 2009, 2014

European competitions

• EuroCup

Champions (1): 2011

• EuroChallenge

Champions (1): 2004

• North European League

Champions (1): 2003

Season by season

Players

Current roster

UNICS roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PF 00 Brown, John 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 29 – 28 January 1992 F 2 Antipov, Pavel 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 29 – 19 September 1991 G 3 Canaan, Isaiah 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 29 – 21 February 1991 G/F 4 Koulechov, Egor 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 36 – 5 November 1984 SF 6 Zhbanov, Georgy 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 23 – 10 October 1997 PG 7 Wolters, Nate 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 29 – 15 May 1991 PF 9 White, Okaro 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – 13 August 1992 PG 10 Sergeev, Pavel 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 33 – 28 July 1987 C 12 Klimenko, Artem 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) 27 – 10 January 1994 SF 13 Uzinskiy, Dmitrii 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 – 13 July 1993 SG 15 Smith, Jamar 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 33 – 7 April 1987 C 19 Morgan, Jordan 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 29 – 15 September 1991 G/F 23 Holland, John 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 32 – 6 November 1988 PG 25 Theodore, Jordan 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 31 – 11 December 1989 SG 42 Kolesnikov, Evgeny 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 35 – 26 December 1985 PF 88 Kaimakoglou, Kostas (C) 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 37 – 15 March 1983	Head coach Dimitrios Priftis Assistant coach(es) Thomas Nikou Artur Bigeev Vassilis Symtsak Athletic trainer(s) Marcus Lindner Physiotherapist(s) Haris Glaros Team manager Mikhail Kolesnikov Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: November 25, 2020

Depth chart

Notable Russian players

bold – FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Notable foreign players

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

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

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

• Aleksandr Zryadchikov – 1994–96;
• Georgy Korolev – 1996–98;
• Dragan Višnjevac – 1998;
• Yevgeny Kovalenko – 1998–00;
• Stanislav Eremin – 2000–06;
• Antanas Sireika – 2006–08;
• Aco Petrović – 2008–09;
• Valdemaras Chomičius – 2009–10;
• Evgeniy Pashutin – 2010–12;
• Aco Petrović – 2012–2013
• Stanislav Eremin – 2013;
• Andrea Trinchieri – 2013–2014
• Argiris Pedoulakis – 2014–2014 ^[1][2]
• Evgeniy Pashutin – 2014–2017
• Dimitrios Priftis – 2017–

References

External links

• Official Site (in Russian)
• Eurobasket.com Team Info
• UnicsTV's channel on YouTube