BC UNICS

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.

Their home arena is Basket-Hall Kazan.

History

1991-1999

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

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

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

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

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

Domestic competitions

• VTB United League

Champions (1): 2023

• Russian Championship

Champions (1): 2023

• 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

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

Depth chart

Notable players

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

bold – FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Russian

• Russia Ruslan Avleev (1997–01, 04–06) – 301 games, 19.2 ppg;
• Russia Petr Samoylenko (1998–07, 08–13) – 774 games, 5.8 ppg;
• Russia Alexander Petrenko (1999–00) – 58 games, 13.2 ppg;
• Russia Evgeniy Pashutin (2000–02) – 86 games, 8.5 ppg;
• Russia Valentin Kubrakov (2000–02, 03–04) – 121 games, 8.5 ppg;
• Russia Aleksei Zozulin (2000–05)
• Russia Igor Kudelin (2002–03, 06–07) – 35 games, 8.1 ppg;
• Russia Sergei Chikalkin (2002–03, 05–09) – 187 games, 10.6 ppg;
• Russia Andrei Fetisov (2002–03) – 20 games, 6.2 ppg;
• Russia Viktor Keirou (2003–05, 07–08) – 83 games, 5.4 ppg;
• Russia Vadim Panin (2006–07) – 35 games, 6.1 ppg;
• Russia Dmitri Sokolov (2006–09) – 128 games, 6.8 ppg;
• Russia Nikolay Padius (2007–08, 10–11) – 59 games, 5.3 ppg;
• Russia Fedor Likholitov (2009–10) – 10 games, 2.5 ppg;
• Russia Zakhar Pashutin (2010–12) – 102 games, 4.3 ppg;
• Russia Aleksey Savrasenko (2011–12) – 56 games, 4.6 ppg;
• Russia Nikita Shabalkin (2012–13) – 28 games, 6.3 ppg;
• Russia Pavel Antipov (2012–15, 2022–23)
• Russia Sergei Bykov (2015–2017)
• Russia Israel Egor Koulechov (2020–21)
• Russia Andrey Vorontsevich (2021–23)

Foreign

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 nationalities not displayed.

Serbia Milan Gurović (2004) and Turkey 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

• Russia Stanislav Eremin – 2000–06;
• Lithuania Antanas Sireika – 2006–08;
• Serbia Aco Petrović – 2008–09;
• Lithuania Valdemaras Chomičius – 2009–10;
• Russia Evgeniy Pashutin – 2010–12;
• Serbia Aco Petrović – 2012–2013
• Russia Stanislav Eremin – 2013;
• Italy Andrea Trinchieri – 2013–2014
• Greece Argiris Pedoulakis – 2014–2014
• Russia Evgeniy Pashutin – 2014–2017
• Greece Dimitrios Priftis – 2017–2021
• Croatia Velimir Perasović – 2021–

External links

• (in Russian)