Now in his third spell playing under the Lithuanian coach, he was vital as Fenerbahce beat Monaco.
Nigel Hayes-Davis got the Saras Jasikevicius era off to the best possible start
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Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Nigel Hayes-Davis certainly knows what it is like to play under Saras Jasikevicius. Now in his third stint playing under the orders of the Lithuanian tactician, he played an important role in getting the Jasikevicius era at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul off to a winning start with a stellar display against AS Monaco in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
From Zalgiris Kaunas to FC Barcelona and now Fenerbahce. There’s been almost no separating Hayes-Davis and Saras over the last five seasons. On Friday night, Hayes-Davis’s trademark energy was on show early on against Monaco before he went on to score a team-high 23 points, with 15 of those coming in the second half as Fenerbahce saw its win over the line.
Jasikevicius made some impact
One of the notable ways in which Jasikevicius put his fingerprints on this Fenerbahce team came before the game, as he announced three of his former players in the starting five. Nick Calathes was named in the starting five, despite a rocky relationship with Saras at FC Barcelona, as were Hayes-Davis and another ex-Barca player in Sertac Sanli. Yet, once the game tipped off, the Lithuanian coach said most of the credit for the win has to go to former Fenerbahce boss Dimitris Itoudis.
“It’s a big win against a very good team,” said Jaskevicius in the post-game flash interview. “Obviously I’m inheriting a team that was extremely well coached, an experienced team. My job today was not to get in the way and try to let them do what they already learned under Dimitris. The players played with a lot of energy. It would have helped to hit some shots. But in general, it was a really great effort by the boys.”
There’s not a lot that can be taken from one game, especially given that Jasikevicius was only confirmed as Itoudis’s replacement on Thursday, but he did maintain Fenerbahce’s 100% record at home this season with the club’s sixth successive win at Ulker Sports and Events Hall.
Yet, as he recognized after the game, a few of his players already know what sort of demands he has, but many of the squad are yet to understand what is expected of them.
“We cannot evaluate [my impact just yet],” Saras commented. “Some guys already know, they played for me for some years, but the other ones we just said ‘hello’ basically in the locker room. It’s too early for any evaluations.”
An interesting week coming up
That much may be true, but at a big club like Fenerbahce, people will always find things to evaluate. Next up for Jasikevicius is a game against his former team, Zalgiris, to start the double-round week next Wednesday before a trip to ALBA Berlin.
If Fenerbahce improves its home record to 7-0 by downing Zalgiris and then beats the 2-12 ALBA on the road, with the Turkish side having gone 1-7 on its travels this season, Jasikevicius’s squad could surge up the standings somewhat. Then, after the double-round week, it will be time to evaluate how things are going. Until then, though, expect Hayes-Davis to be at the center of everything positive for Jasikevicius and Fenerbahce.