The Montenegrin tactician guided Virtus to a victory in his first game – and he was happy with how the team believed
Ivanovic got a bit lucky in Virtus debut, but team believed and fought
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Regular Season
Round 15 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Virtus Segafredo Bologna is not expecting magic to happen right out of the gate with Dusko Ivanovic taking over as head coach. But the Italian team provided some wizardry of its own in giving the new play-caller his first victory – thanks to a great mind frame.
Virtus needed a shocking four-point play by Will Clyburn with 1.9 seconds to play to knock off Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 81-82 to snap its six-game losing streak. Ivanovic was very happy about how his team stayed in the game.
"I am happy, but we have players. Tonight we were very lucky to win the game. But one thing that I think is really important for this team now is to believe and fight, believe and fight until the end," said the 67-year-old Ivanovic, who took over at the helm at Virtus after Luca Banchi stepped down.
"We have faith, character and patience - to play with a little more patience and have a clear situation, especially when the game is being decided."
Ivanovic made two changes to Virtus’s starting lineup from the Round 14 loss at home against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, which was coached by interim head coach Nenad Jakovljevic – starting Alessandro Pajola and Rayjon Tucker alongside Clyburn, Toko Shengelia and Ante Zizic.
The game was a special one for Ivanovic, who coached at Baskonia over four stints and patrolled the sidelines of the club for 273 EuroLeague games. In fact, this was the first time he faced Baskonia at Buesa Arena.
But Ivanovic was not thinking about sentimentality in the Round 15 encounter. He wants to take big steps in changing the mentality of the team as quickly as possible to still have a chance to fight for the playoffs when it’s all said and done.
The Montenegrin coach’s message has been received by the team – especially by the top players.
"Everybody knows our struggles this year. A win like this means everything," said Clyburn, who finished with 23 points. "We just kept playing - play by play. You can’t look at the scoreboard and think: oh, 5 or 6 points. It’s just play by play."
And Shengelia, who served as Baskonia captain for six seasons from 2014 to 2020, did not shy away from giving praise where it was due.
"All the credit goes to the coaches, too, in preparing the game in such a good way," the power forward said. "This win is very important, especially to get it on the road. It counts a lot. Getting a win in such an environment means we have something to build on now. I hope that we keep rolling."
The monkey is already off Ivanovic’s back as new coach, and Virtus already has a thrilling, momentum-building win. Now if it can just believe and fight for each game.