UEMC Baloncesto Valladolid begins the second round this Sunday at 5:00 p.m. with its visit to CB Toledo, one of the great teams of this season in terms of results and numbers. After concluding the first phase of the regular league first, David Barrio called to remain calm “and keep our feet on the ground” in the face of what is to come, although he also showed his satisfaction with what he has seen so far, the results, and spoke about the rival, CB Toledo.
Leaders, does it create pressure to see yourself up there? “Well, let’s see, we know that the first position is something relatively circumstantial, because I think it is a reward for the work we are doing. I say circumstantial because it is also a bit of the system, maybe we win in Toledo and we stop being first because the format begins to change or we lose and put ourselves fifth, but of course it gives a peace of mind to be in that group of five or six teams that we are at the top. Two years ago with the other competition system we would be playing in the final of the Princess Cup, which I think is to be satisfied but knowing that we have thirteen more days left, with our feet on the ground, looking for good weeks of training like we had last week and above all knowing that we are where we have to be, where we want to be, but that because this winter championship or whatever we want to call it has been held, they do not give us any prize or any court factor nor have we won absolutely anything.”
What is not circumstantial are the numbers of victories and points scored with everything that has happened to the team, which if maintained normally in the second round allows them to fight for promotion. “I hope, I hope. The other day after the game we said that I think the game against Iraurgi was not our best game, I think it was a good game but not our best game, but we did come from our best week. I think that in the end the day to day life with healthy people is good. We have been saying since the beginning of the season, despite all the problems on and off the field that we had at first, that the work of the boys is excellent. I have always said it, it is a reality and that in the end has occurred This first place, although I say that it is circumstantial, of the thirteen days, if I remember correctly, we have been at the top for four days at random, always in the top zone, the team with the highest score, the one with the highest pace of play. I believe that this is the merit of the boys on a day-to-day basis and it is something that I reiterate with which we cannot congratulate ourselves too much because this is a long way off, but it is a positive reinforcement for the group of the work they have done, which we are doing. doing.”
Of the three defeats that occurred, which one do you have stuck in your mind or do you remember with special anger? “Well, it always bothers me a lot to lose, as a vital concept. A lot. But well, I think there are two of the three that we have lost that hurt me especially. One is Sevilla at home, Caja 87 because it is in Pisuerga. I mean, I think that that week Caja 87 was better, which had just made two very important additions, I think it is the best squad right now along with Córdoba, but I think that now with the Caja 87 signings and by budget level It is the transatlantic of the group. I think that Pisuerga is our home, so losing with our people, especially with all the people who are coming, is something that hurt us a little. Not negative, because the team recovered momentarily, we understood that it was a game in which they have been playing very, very well, but losing at home always hurts more with the people who are coming. You arrive… because in Córdoba we lost in reverse, coming back. They were leaders, we lost by four points, we were very limited to Córdoba of people. Well, it is a defeat that can enter, but in the second half of Ponferrada, that they have not lost a game at home, it is not because we could not lose Ponferrada, but because of the way in which the team in the second half is not able to compete. the second part of Ponferrada”.
Now the templates are going to move, how do you think the group configuration will change? “Well, they are already moving, they are already moving. They have already been moving these two months, this month and a half that remains of the market until the last day of February, which is the day it closes, there are going to be movements. Especially in teams at the top, also those at the bottom are strengthening, that is going to raise the level. We are now going to play against Toledo who has signed, has two games ahead of Kocic, a Bosnian player who comes from the first division, who is a spectacular player for this League, for For example, well, everything has its good side and its bad side, I think that in the end the stability of the group has to give us, that is, in the end, bringing in new players, even if they are very good players, also generates an adaptation process, but it is true that people are strengthening, that there are teams with a very high economic potential, that want to be at the top and that the market is moving, as you say, and well, Sevilla is already seeing the moves it has made. Córdoba is on the market, Toledo has signed, Ponferrada this week has released three players, it has already announced a signing but it is going to make more signings… I think they are important movements in top teams. Iraurgui has already made additions that we already saw the other day, it is true that they are injured players, not only to improve the squad. People are constantly on the market and that makes the level of the league rise.
And Tikhonenko’s son, right? “In Jaén, yes, I had him last year for a month in Ibiza, on trial. He comes from the Unicaja youth academy, he has been playing in the Russian first division in recent seasons, he is also an interesting signing.”
Has it been difficult to recover normality with injuries? Is Carreño’s piece missing and what will it mean for Antón Bouzán’s contract? “As of today, we said it on the first day, the reality is that Anton’s contract is until the end of this month, which is more or less Pau’s deadline. Pau had a follow-up MRI the other day this week to see how he is doing exactly. With the issue of Reyes I hope we have his results, but at this time of the morning we still don’t have them to see exactly how the healing of the broken fibers he had is going. But the logical deadlines would be for him to return after the break. for the F4 of the Spanish Cup, that is, at the end of the month, which coincides with the end of Antón’s contract, which will have to be evaluated depending on how Pau is. The issue of Pau is a bit what we mentioned in the signings of other teams, since we signed him to be the starting ‘three’ and he has not played all year without that position, he has to be a very important player, but at the same time he is going to have an adaptation process, not only physically but also in terms of play. Well, let’s hope that this is the final one and we can incorporate him, but although I think he is a player who has to give us a leap in quality, as I say at the end, he is a player called to be a starter or very important with us, he has played five minutes so far this season. He is not going to be a decisive player the first day he returns to the field, for sure, that will take a process and it will also be difficult for us to adapt to him and him to the team.
What game do you foresee in Toledo? “They are the second best attack, I think it is a game that a priori, then I say this and we will finish 60-60, but we are the two best attacks of the group at a numerical level. They are the team with the highest rating, they have only lost one game at home and by three points. It is a very complicated field in that sense, it is the team that gives the most assists, I think it is a team that has a game in that sense relatively similar to ours on an offensive level, in terms of offensive numbers, it is a team with a lot of talent. The first game I think that in the League it is not similar to what we are going to see, I think that both teams are in absolute construction, I think that even so at that moment in the season we played a very serious game and we won it, I also think that we won it in a relatively solvent way. But well, it is a team that has just won against Córdoba, that has just won the other day in Cáceres in extra time, I think it is a team that is also called to be at the top, which is true that it is there in the second group in Instead of being at the top, but well, their numbers, especially at home, are very important. It’s like us who have only lost one game at home, they are in a very similar dynamic and as I say, above all I think that numerically we are the two teams that score the most points, so I imagine that what we want is to stop precisely that offensive flow of theirs and they be in the same situation.”
In 2026, do you ask a little more from Jacob Hanna, taking into account the face-to-face challenges that all Ice’s rivals face? “I am delighted with Hanna. I am delighted with the two Americans because I think that the adaptation they are having both on and off the field is excellent. If we talk only about the game, the other day Jacob plays a game that I think is not the protagonist in many aspects, although defensively he is our best player, and in the last minute two actions appear that give us the game. He is prepared to do it, but his profile is perhaps sometimes not so much about having to give him the ball, not as much of a scorer as Ice is. In the end the issue is that Ice loves it. They defend very face to face, if they defend him like the other day face to face and he scores 15 points, that is more or less the average he has and above all that generates more spaces for the others… In the end there are people like him or like Fares who what they do is generate a lot of spaces for the rest of the teammates, so I don’t worry too much there, I think that Jacob is fulfilling his role.”
And I suppose also some normality in the pavilion, right? Because of the leaks, the markers… “The other day, yes, we already laughed at it in quotes, because otherwise we would shoot ourselves, because in the end when it’s not one thing, it’s another. The other day it was something that had not happened to me because that 24-second marker, when I was here, had not caused any problem, I don’t know if it had happened at another time. It’s something that they more or less review, the technician comes to review it every so often, so it was something a little unexpected, what happens is that it creates situations… I did it the other day. I spoke at the end of the game, later we talked about it with the referees, I had never had a technique like that in my life because the referee told me ‘I have to whistle it’, but if I don’t stop the game you give the ball to the other team and three seconds had passed. In other words, it conditions the game as you say, something that conditions, just like the leaks at the time, the other day the clock was 24, the players didn’t see the possession clock. There is a play at the end of the game. Pau Isern, in a penetration that from the outside we all thought he had to shoot, who tries to give it to Pablo Martín and they call us for possession because he is not watching the possession clock, so he thinks that there is still time, he wins his back to Pablo and we are not seeing it. So of course it conditions the game, I hope there is no mishap in Pisuerga, of course I hope we can have a normality that we were having now but something else happened on the last day that was not under the control of absolutely anyone.
