Lokomotiv Kuban used a shock 90-79 win at CSKA Moscow as motivation for their dominating EuroCup victory over Energia Trento on Wednesday night.
Kuban made the roughly 2,700 km-round trip to Moscow for the VTB League game on Sunday. But the second leg of the journey made the remaining 1,350 km back to Krasnodar more bearable.
They returned to action on Wednesday fully focused against Italian side Trento, leading 29-16 after the first quarter and despite a blip in the second quarter, raced clear in the third to ease to a 97-69 victory as the Russian side remains the only unbeaten team left in the EuroCup.
“Apart from the five minutes in the second quarter, we did a very good job and dominated the game,” said Lokomotiv head coach Sasha Djordevic.
“The majority of the game, we had a good attitude. I would say we even used the CSKA game to continue with good confidence. The reflection of that was the beginning of the game. And after these black minutes, we came back to our rhythm.”
As a result, Lokomotiv are now 10-0 in the EuroCup this season with back-to-back Top 16 games against Cedevita Zagreb to follow.
One man who seemed in rhythm all night long against was Australian Ryan Broekhoff, who hit five three-pointers on his way to a game-high 20 points.
“We had a long trip and build up and then the pressure and excitement of the CSKA win,” Broekhoff said. “We had a few days to recover physically and mentally. So we are very happy to come out with the win and hopefully, we can continue this good form.”
