Keenan Evans and Zalgiris Kaunas are trying to turn things around and maintain their push for the final play-in spots. They are three wins away from Maccabi Tel-Aviv (13-12), which holds the final play-in spot. With nine games remaining, the Lithuanians have 10 wins and 15 losses and are hopeful they will fight until the end to enter the playoff zone.
The arrival of coach Andrea Trinchieri in early January helped Zalgiris Kaunas get back on track and optimism has returned to the club. The Lithuanians have won five of the eight games they have played under the Italian coach and Keenan Evans talked about what coach Trinchieri has brought to the club.
“He’s a man of words. He brings a lot of quotes, he brings a lot of jokes… But when it’s time to practice and to be better, he’s going to get on you. He wants you to be better, he sees the potential in his team…It’s all coming from a loving place and he wants to win just as bad as us,” Keenan Evans told EuroLeague.net, via Basketnews.com.
Zalgiris Kaunas will travel to Belgrade for a must-win road game vs Crvena Zvezda on Friday, with both teams sharing identical records.
For his part, Evans has appeared in 25 games so far and has averages of 16.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and a PIR of 18.2, on 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.
