Jasikevicius blasts teams’ attitude after Fenerbahce’s first Turkish league loss
It was October 12 when Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul remained undefeated in the Turkish league thanks to an OT win over Yalovaspor (97-90) thanks to a 3-point shot by Nicolo Melli at the end of regulation.
Despite the win, Fenerbahce head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius wasn’t pleased with the way his players responded to the game’s requirements.
“I think I didn’t prepare my team very well for the match today,” the Lithuanian play-caller admitted in his post-game statements.
“It’s hard to take responsibility and it’s mostly up to the coach to do it. So I didn’t do a good job today. We have to not run away from our responsibilities,” Saras took the blame.
However, avoiding a last-second scare was just the prelude to what Petkimspor had in store for Fenerbahce when the two teams locked horns for Round 5 on Sunday afternoon. The guests prevailed by 75-66, improving their record to 3-2 and leaving Fenerbahce at 4-1.
“This game was a disrespect to our club and our fans,” the Lithuanian coach pointed out.
“We have treated all our league matches so far with disrespect. It was a miracle that we won the Yalova game,” he reminded.
“The other games weren’t very good either. We want to apologize to our fans not for losing, but for our performance on the court. That’s why we need to show a reaction,” the 48-year-old coach said.
Boban Marjanovic scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Tarik Biberovic had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and one assist.
DeWayne Russell had 20 points, five rebounds, seven assists for the winning side.