TAYLORHOOPS.COM ULM UPDATE
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TWICE AS NICE!!
Ulm Doubles Wurzburg 120-60 for 18th win
17-0 met 0-17 and it got ugly. ratiopharm Ulm put six players in double figures, dished out 29 team assists, shot 60% from the field, picked up 19 team steals and doubled up USC MainFranken Baskets from Wurzburg 120-60 Saturday night at Sportszentrum Kuhberg in Ulm. Outscoring winless Wurzburg 29-8 in the first quarter and 30-9 in the second, Ulm held a commanding 59-17 halftime lead before eclipsing the 100 point mark for the 3rd consecutive game. Jeff Gibbs' 21 point 11 rebound effort also included 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. Jonathan Levy's 19 point night was highlighted by two spectacular slams and Konrad Wysocki's 16 point 7 rebound performance energized the crows with hardworking effort and above-the-rim excitement. The impressive team performance improved ratiopharm Ulm to 18-0 maintaining their three game lead atop the 2.Bundesliga South.
JUMP MAN!
Jono SMASHES this dunk!
Saturday Febuary 4th, 2006 7pm
VS
ratiopharm Ulm focused pre-game on their own performance. Rather than fall victim to a mental lapse from lack of focus against a winless Wurzburg team, Ulm emphasized their team goals for Saturday nights 2.Bundesliga South basketball game at Sportszentrum Kuhberg. All signs pointed toward a blowout --- 17-0 hosting 0-17; first place versus last place; experience against youth. As big as the challenge was physically, Saturday's game against USC MainFranken Baskets became an even greater mental challenge for the ratiopharm Ulm team. For Ulm Saturday nights game became a test: maintain the mental edge.
After the 120-60 victory --- filled with slam dunks, fast breaks and highlight reel plays to entertain the Sportszentrum Kuhberg crowd --- it was safe to say ratiopharm Ulm passed. Focusing on performance rather than opponent, Ulm established their excellent intensity level and maintained their concentration for the entire evening. A terrific team win, Ulm put six players in double digits, dished out 29 assists, outrebounded Wurzburg 41-29, shot 60% from the floor, snared 19 steals, limited the guests to 41% floor shooting and forced 24 turnovers. Dominating the first half, Ulm exploded to a 29-8 advantage after the first quarter and followed it up with a 30-9 second establishing a 59-17 halftime lead. Passing the 100 point mark for the sixth time this season, ratiopharm Ulm broke the "century mark" barrier for the 3rd straight game (115-82 v Langen 1-21-06, 107-83 @ Nordlingen 1-29-06 and Saturday's 120-60 v USC MainFranken Baskets 2-4-06). Winning by 60 points, Ulm established a season best for victory margin matching last seasons 119-59 road win over MTV Kronberg 10-23-04.
Konrad Wysocki flies to the rim for a first half dunk finishing a 2 on 1 with flair. Jan Sprunken (9) dropped off a beautiful behind the back pass to set up Wysocki for this rim-rattler!
After enjoying years of excellent basketball tradition and producing one of the best players in the world (Dirk Nowitzki), Wurzburg has seen their fortunes slide over the last two seasons. Relegated from the Bundesliga last year, Wurzburg struggled through a summer of adversity and turmoil when attempting to build their team. Without money and sponsors a young roster with a few part-time veterans was the best the team could find. Off to a slow start (including a week 3 113-65 loss to Ulm in Wurzburg), top players Edwin Ofori-Attah, Keli Ekomoye, Marin Bota and Maurice Newby all left the team. Wurzburg's slide continued all season with 17 straight defeats. Earlier in the week, additions of young German big man Raymond Hasler and new American guard Antoine Knighton were expected to bolster their lineup for the Ulm game. But only Hasler would be elligible to play as Knighton was not granted a players lisence without necessary paperwork completed on time. The new guard is expected to be ready for next weeks game. What resulted was a USC MainFranken Baskets team showing up at Sportszentrum Kuhberg with several young players and uniforms without any sponsor logos ( a clear indicator of the teams dire financial straights).
Despite the record differential between Ulm and Wurzburg, a big Sportszentrum Kuhberg crowd came to enjoy the entertaining basketball action. Not about to disappoint the faithful fans, Ulm opened action in an intense frenzied fullcourt press. Although the guests marked the scoreboard first, Ulm immediately went to work using fullcourt pressure, changing defenses and fast break offense to set the tone. Struggling against the pressing Ulm defense, Wurzburg turned the ball over giving Ulm several easy scores. Giveaways gave Jeff Gibbs and Konrad Wysocki slam dunks. Solid halfcourt defense and strong defensive rebounding triggered Ulm's running game. Even though Ulm perimeter shooting hit only 3 of 13 threes in the first half, offensive rebounding and steals provided extra possessions which were quickly converted to points. Ulm's bench found rhythm right away as Konrad Wysocki, Jan Sprunken, Christian Grosse and Florian Mobius entered the game to elevate the action. A smooth flowing action with few whistles, by the end of the first 10 minutes Ulm had clearly gained control of the game and huddled up between quarters leading 29-8.
Jeff Gibbs RAMS this alley-oop from Maksym Shtein!
Excellent intensity and concentration helped Ulm open the game strong. Focusing on defensive work first, Ulm players maintained the mental edge. And the avalanche rolled into the second quarter. Another dunk from Gibbs, inside scores from Maksym Shtein and crafty reverse layups from Jan Sprunken piled on the points. Playing the second line of Ulm's press, Gibbs collected a loose ball in the middle of the floor and dribbled uncontested in for a two hand dunk. Shtein, playing under the weather, created off the dribble against big Burkhard Steinbach and posted up strong inside. Sprunken, known for his accute marksmanship from beyond the arc, demonstrated his craftiness sneaking baseline for two skillfull reverse layups using the rim for protection. Point guard Martin Thuesen drilled a three and dished out 4 first half assists. Despite hitting only 1 of his 5 first half threes, Levy excited the crowd finishing a fast break with a powerful tomohawk slam after filling the left wing lane. Antonis Sivorotka subbed in late in the first half and the 30-9 Ulm second quarter put the game away.
Up 59-17 at the half, Ulm dominated the first 20 minutes. Statistically speaking, Ulm hit 56% from the floor (25-45) but only 23% from three (3 for 13). Outrebounding the visitors 22-12, Ulm also limited Wurzburg to 25% from the floor (6 for 24) and 1 for 5 from three. Assists to turnover ratio told the tale in the first half as Ulm players passed out 14 assists to one turnover as compared to Wurzburg 4 assists to only 16 turnovers. Ulm's press accounted for 11 steals and teh team combined for 4 blocked shots. Certainly, the 42 point halftime lead was safe; and the Ulm team aimed to avoid a second half mental let-down.
Jonathan Levy finishes this first half fast break with an exciting two hand tomohawk slam!
Starting the third quarter fast, Ulm got several easy baskets inside from Jeff Gibbs and Emeka Erege. Maksym Shtein stepped out to bank in a left wing three and Jan Sprunken sank 3 of 6 threes. Defensive stops led to offensive opportunities. A 30 point third quarter kept the pressure on. Although Ulm dominated the action, USC MainFranken Basket big man Burgy Steinbach showed fine form with several quality post moves in the paint. His sweeping hook and soft touch helped his Wurzburg team find a rhythm. Like Steinbach, point guard Christian Gabold penetrated and and pushed the ball scoring 16 second half points to earn respect. After converting only 6 of 24 shots in the first half, Wurzburg improved to 17 of 32 shooting and decreased their turnover count in half (16 in the first half to 8 in the second). Several Wurzburg players including Raymond Halser, Jochen Bischoff, Max Endres and Sebastian Kiel hit shots in the second half. By the end of three quarters, Ulm's lead grew to 89-37 and the party atmosphere in Sportszentrum Kuhberg grew right along with it.
Ulm C Maksym Shtein is fouled by Wurzburg's Burgy Steinbach in the second half of Saturday's win. Playing sick, Shtein was excellent for Ulm scoring 15 points with 5 rebounds.
With a 52 point lead in the fourth quarter, Ulm went through the complete rotation getting the entire active roster minutes of playing time. With the starting five finishing up their evening in the middle fourth quarter, several fast breaks resulted in highlight reel action. Jeff Gibbs finished off a 3 on 1 break with an alley-oop slam off a pass from Maksym Shtein. Gibbs then returned the favor possessions later with an off the backboard alley oop to streaking power guard Jonathan Levy. Konrad Wysocki and Florian Mobius produced fast break points, Christian Grosse drilled an NBA distanced late clock top of the key three and Antonis Sivorotka and Marcel Freide cracked the scoring column with late free throws. The 18 year old forward Freide even capped off the night with a fantastic blocked shot along the baseline. Finally, with time running down, the "LAST SECOND SLAM MAN" Konrad Wysocki poked loose a steal from an inbound pass leading to an uncontested breakaway dunk just before the buzzer. Sportszentrum Kuhberg could be proud of their team's 120-60 win.
Jan Sprunken skillfully spins this reverse layup off glass and in before two Wurzburg defenders can stop him. Sprunken scored 13 points off the Ulm bench in 14 minuts.
Jeff Gibbs led the way with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks in 23 minutes of action. Jonathan Levy added 19 points in 25 minutes, Konrad Wysocki 16 points 7 rebounds in 20 minutes and Maksym Shtein 15 points 5 boards in 22 minutes. Also enjoying excellent games, Martin Thuesen produced 11 points 5 assists and Jan Sprunken scored a prolific 13 points in 14 minutes. Captain Emeka Erege added 8 points and a team best 9 assists with 5 rebounds. For MainFranken Baskets, Christian Gabold topscored with 20 points and Burgy Steinbach was the only other player in double figures with 12 and a solid 14 rebounds.
Ulm power forward Jeff Gibbs gives the clean up crew a hand during the second half of Saturday nights win. As if he was not busy enough, Gibbs mopped up team bests 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Improving to 18-0, ratiopharm Ulm maintains their 3 game lead in 2.Bundesliga South standings and looks ahead to next Saturday's challenging road trip to MTV Stuttgart. Tipping off at 7:30pm, Ulm rallied to beat an experienced Stuttgart team 76-71 October 15th in Game Day 4 at Sportszentrum Kuhberg.
POST GAME COACHES TALK: "Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit die mannschaft heute abend. Das war ein spiel fur die publikum und die mannschaft hat gute focus im kopf"
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GO ULM!
MIKE T
