The Dragons finished Mission Germany with one win and defeat each

Cedevita Olimpija has been defeated by ratiopharm Ulm 90:89 in the second preseason game in Germany.

Cedevita Olimpija finished its Mission Germany with one win and one defeat each and the Dragons took advantage of the game to test themselves against two tough opponents and to get acquainted with the ideas of head coach Jurica Golemac and to get to know each other at the same time.

During the Saturday’s lunchtime, Cedevita Olimpija squad has got to the floor of the Orange Campus, the home of ratiopharm Ulm and have been defeated against another team that will be competing in the 7Days EuroCup this season.

This time the result again hasn’t been in the primary focus and in the end, as the Dragons missed their game-winner attempt, the hosts celebrated a 90:89 win. Kendrick Perry shined for the guests with 29 points, 4 rebounds and just as many assists and Jaka Blažič (11), Roko Leni Ukić and Mikael Hopkins (each 10) followed him.

In the evening, the squad will get back to Ljubljana, where it will continue the preparations fort he next season. There is a free Sunday ahead of the Dragons and on Monday they will get back to Stožice arnea. Two games are yet to follow for Cedevita Olimpija until the official start of the new season, with the Slovenian Super Cup, that will take place on 17 September in Kranj. Nymburk is coming to Stožice on Wednesday, 2 September and together with the Czech side, Slovenian international and former Dragon Luka Rupnik will arrive to Ljubljana. A week later, Bayern of Munich will come to Stožice.

Jurica Golemac, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana Head Coach:
“We haven’t been completely focused in our second game and there was no such intensity, that we would wish to have. It can be understood, since the guys are tired in this period. But what is positive is that it is a preseason game, so we could make some positive and some negative conclusions from it. We have had too many turnovers and we need to fix some of things on our defensive game as well. For sure, this game was helpful for us just as much as the last one against Bayern was. We move on. I am satisfied with our Mission Germany. We have been facing two tough opponents, which has revealed us where we are at the moment, what we need to improve and what we need to keep on doing. I am happy that nobody got injured either.”

Roko Leni Ukić, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana player:
“If we take a look at the entire picture we are satisfied, since it’s preseason. Besides that, the team hasn’t been playing for a long time and we are a newly composed squad. We played excellent against Bayern and won. Today we made an easy start and afterwards managed to get into a better rhythm. In the end we were close to the victory, but some of the decisions by the referees, including several technical fouls have knocked us out of our rhythm. But this is a part of the game and we need to keep our focus in such situations. I am sorry that we haven’t won in the second game as well, but it’s still preseason, so the score doesn’t count.”

PRESEASON GAMES 2020 (Mission: Germany)

Am OrangeCampus (Ulm, Germany), Saturday, 29 August:
RATIOPHARM ULM – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA 90:89 (27:22, 26:26, 16:22, 21:19)
Cedevita Olimpija: Radović, Perry 29 (4 rebounds in 4 assists), Hopkins 10 (7 rebounds in 4 assists), Duščak 3, Murić 4 (8 rebounds), Ukić 10, Blažič 11, Brown 8 (4 rebounds), Hodžić 0, Dimec 5 (5 rebounds), Marinković 9 (7 rebounds).

Already played:

Munich (Germany), Thursday, 27 August:
BAYERN MÜNCHEN – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA 74:82 (21:20, 23:23, 18:20, 12:19)