FCC UAV Arad starts the semi-final battle with champion Sepsi, Popov knows what to do in Secuime: “Let’s play collectively and be creative in the offensive!”

FCC UAV Arad reached the climax of the season. So far, the team from Mureș has broadly done the job it was built for, but from now on it has to push its limits if it wants more from the 2023-2024 edition of the National Women’s Basketball League. Friday, from 6:30 p.mthe “yellow-blue” start the semi-final with Sepsi SIC champion Sfântu Gheorghe, a team that was overtaken – somewhat surprisingly – in the regular season standings by CSM CSU Constanța, but against whom they will want to get revenge in the last act.

For this, the Romanian representative in the present edition of the Euroleague will have to overcome a team from Arada that proved better than it in the direct matches of the regular season. FCC UAV Arad lost with 74-82 the dispute in Covasna county, but they took their revenge with a tip and full in the Aradean Polyvalent, with the score of 63-47. This last match played a month ago was almost completely controlled for three and a half quarters by Taylor Murray and her colleagues, bringing to the surface the problems related to the limited solutions for the Romanian players of Zoran Mikes’s team. Scorer of 16 points, to which are added 7 rebounds and 5 decisive assists in the confrontation in Arad with Sepsi, Murray seems to know what to do in two days in Secuime. “It will be very difficult for us to play away from home, but I think if we keep our mentality, stay together, control the tempo and make our attacks, we will be able to have a very good game. We have to play collectively, be united, recover loose balls and play our attacks to the end at a good intensity.” says Arad’s Over the Ocean game coordinator.

Popov: “Strong legs and a strong heart, it would be a disaster for them to lose at home”

Like FCC UAV (which beat Rapid with 76-64 and 64-52), Sepsi ended the accounts in the quarter in two games with Olimpia Brașov, 95-53, at home and 99-58, under Tâmpa. Obviously, the champions start as favorites in the first leg of the semifinal against the “students” from Mureș, but Miroslav Popov worked on shaping the surprise. “We start the semi-final games and hit the road for the first game on their home court. I think we need to be relaxed, but – at the same time – have strong legs and a strong heart. It will be a tough game as they will be very, very aggressive normally. They play at home, and we look for our chance in the collective game. All five players on the court have to form a good defense and also offensively we have to be very creative because they will be very, very aggressive. They don’t want to lose the first game at home because it would be a disaster for them. We will try to do something offensively, come up with accurate throws, we can do a lot of good things if we have a good mood before the game. I hope the girls are not afraid to play this kind of game, but now it’s the semi-final, we have to do everything to beat them there. If we don’t succeed, we return to Arad and prepare for the home match, it’s a duel that can be decided after three games”, said the Serbian coach of the “yellow-blues”.

The Arad team has no problem with the team in view of the confrontation on Friday evening in the “Sepsi Arena”, although the club bosses know that in order to cause even bigger problems to Zoran Mikes’ students, they would have needed a quality player , especially under the panel. It’s just that the president Marcel Urban was not found, so the “war” goes with the group with which the season started – practically – with the additions from the fall, Murray and Negru.

And the other semi-final, CSM CSU Constanța – CSM Târgoviște starts on Friday, on the Litoral, but from 7 p.m.