“We didn’t expect such a result, but we played a very solid game. We have to keep building on our consistency,” said Sarunas Jasikevicius. The Lithuanian coach ruled out Kyle Kuric and Oscar da Silva in a game that served to bring back Sergi Martínez. Four months after his injury, the winger from Rubin returned to play with Barça.
After a very solid first quarter, Barça broke the game during a second quarter in which Virtus went more than seven minutes without scoring. Led by Àlex Abrines, the Blaugrana team went 0-21 to build a 22-point gap against a rival who lost the thread of their script (23-45).
The difference between the visitors continued to grow during a third quarter that ended with the locals collapsing. A partial 3-21 placed a devastating result of 31-68 that ended the faith of Virtus. Without success in the shot, the Italian team was left with no options for victory against a Barça team that completed three quarters to save in the video library.
“Our mentality has led us to play good defense. We lost the game in the first round and I think we played very well. We knew how to move the ball well,” summed up Nikola Mirotic. “We played with the necessary energy,” Abrines added.
