BC UNICS

BC UNICS (Russian: БК УНИКС) is a professional basketball club in Kazan, Russia, that plays in the VTB United League, and formerly played in the EuroLeague. On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

BC UNICS
Leagues	VTB United League
Founded	1991 (1991)
History	BC UNICS (1991–present)
Arena	Basket-Hall Kazan
Capacity	7,482
Location	Kazan, Russia
Team colors	Green, White
President	Yevgeny Bogachev
Team manager	Valery Kolesnikov
Head coach	Velimir Perasović
Championships	1 EuroCup 1 Russian Championship 3 Russian Cups 1 North European League 1 EuroChallenge
Website	unics.ru
Home Away

Their home arena is Basket-Hall Kazan.

History

1991-1999

UNICS was established in 1991. Though officially the club's men's professional club was founded in 1991 (when it first began to play in the lowest level of the national pro leagues), UNICS traces its origins back to KSU's college team Burevestnik, which participated in the USSR student championships from 1957. Because of this, the name 'UNICS' is an abbreviation – UNIversity, Culture, Sport.

Between 1994 and 1997, UNICS secured a berth in Russia's first division. In 1997, UNICS was promoted to the Russian Basketball Super League A, which was at the time the top-tier level Russian league. A year later, Yevgeny Bogachev, the chairman of the National Bank of the Tatarstan, became the president of the club.

2000-2019

The team placed second to CSKA in the Russian Basketball Super League in 2001 and 2002, a year in which it also reached the Saporta Cup semifinals, losing against the Greek club Maroussi in the semifinals. UNICS' first title was the Russian Cup in March 2003, with an 81–82 overtime victory over CSKA. Kazan hosted the FIBA Europe League final four, which was eventually named the FIBA EuroChallenge, in April 2004. UNICS won its regular season group, and advanced to the final four, where the club was crowned the FIBA Europe League champions. The MVP of the tournament's final four. By the 2005–06 season, UNICS went one level up, and made its ULEB Cup (later named EuroCup) debut. However, things turned south quickly, as UNICS lost at home against Roma in the tournament's eighth finals’ second leg, and crashed out. The team the next season made it to the ULEB Cup semifinals, before losing to the eventual league champs Real Madrid. It also returned to the Russian League finals, losing against CSKA.

In the 2007–08 season, UNICS made it to the ULEB Cup (now called EuroCup) Final Eight, but fell to Akasvayu Girona in the quarterfinals. UNICS finally broke through in the EuroCup in the 2010–11 season, by winning its regular season and Last 16 groups, before sweeping its quarterfinal series against Pepsi Caserta. UNICS beat KK Cedevita 87–66, in the semifinals, behind 27 points from Terrell Lyday, and registered a 92–77 win against Cajasol Sevilla, in the title game. Marko Popović had a EuroCup Finals record of 11 assists, to lead UNICS to the title. In the Russian League, UNICS had a 21–6 record, to finish the regular season atop the standings, but then went out in the playoff semifinals, after a five-game duel against BC Khimki. The club then competed in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in the following season. It made its EuroLeague debut in the 2011–12 season. In the Russian League it finished first at the end of the regular season, and reached the playoff semifinals.

2020-present

Jarrell Brantley left the team in early 2022 due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The team is suing him for $250,000, and trying to prevent him from signing with a G League team. Similarly, Americans Isaiah Canaan, John Brown, and John Holland left the team after the invasion.

On February 28, 2022, EuroLeague Basketball suspended the team because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lorenzo Brown and Marco Spissu decided not to break their contracts and stayed with the team until the end of VTB League.

Honours

Domestic competitions

• VTB United League

Champions (1): 2023

• Russian Cups

Champions (3): 2003, 2009, 2014

European competitions

• EuroCup

Champions (1): 2011

• EuroChallenge

Champions (1): 2004

• North European League

Champions (1): 2003

Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	Russian Cup	European competitions		Other competitions
1997–98	1	Superleague A	7th		3 Korać Cup	GS
1998–99	1	Superleague A	5th		2 Saporta Cup	R32
1999–00	1	Superleague A	3rd		3 Korać Cup	EF
2000–01	1	Superleague A	2nd		2 Saporta Cup	SF
2001–02	1	Superleague A	2nd		2 Saporta Cup	QF
2002–03	1	Superleague A	3rd	Winner	3 FIBA Champions Cup	QF	NEBL	C
2003–04	1	Superleague A	2nd	Third place	3 FIBA Europe League	C
2004–05	1	Superleague A	3rd	Runner-up	3 FIBA Europe League	QF
2005–06	1	Superleague A	4th	Third place	2 ULEB Cup	EF
2006–07	1	Superleague A	2nd	Runner-up	2 ULEB Cup	QF
2007–08	1	Superleague A	6th	Semifinals	2 ULEB Cup	QF
2008–09	1	Superleague A	3rd	Winner	2 Eurocup	T16
2009–10	1	Superleague A	3rd	Runner-up	2 Eurocup	T16	United League	RU
2010–11	1	PBL	3rd		1 Euroleague	QR2	United League	3rd
					2 Eurocup	C
2011–12	1	PBL	5th		1 Euroleague	QF	United League	RU
2012–13	1	PBL	6th		1 Euroleague	QR2	United League	QF
					2 Eurocup	QF
2013–14	1	VTB United League	3rd	Winner	2 Eurocup	RU
2014–15	1	VTB United League	6th	Second qualifying	1 Euroleague	RS
					2 Eurocup	SF
2015–16	1	VTB United League	2nd	First qualifying	2 Eurocup	EF
2016–17	1	VTB United League	5th	Round of 64	1 EuroLeague	RS
2017–18	1	VTB United League	4th		2 EuroCup	QF
2018–19	1	VTB United League	3rd	First round	2 EuroCup	SF
2019–20	1	VTB United League	4th		2 EuroCup	R16
2020–21	1	VTB United League	2nd		2 EuroCup	RU
2021–22	1	VTB United League	3rd		1 EuroLeague	SP	United League Supercup	3rd
2022–23	1	VTB United League	1st				United League Supercup	7th

Players

See also: Category:BC UNICS players

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

UNICS roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age F 1 Akoon-Purcell, DeVaughn 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 31 – (1993-06-05)5 June 1993 SG 2 Belenitskii, Mikhail 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 22 – (2002-09-12)12 September 2002 C 3 Reynolds, Jalen 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1992-12-30)30 December 1992 SG 4 Komolov, Artem 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 31 – (1993-06-01)1 June 1993 SG 5 Kulagin, Dmitrii 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 32 – (1992-07-01)1 July 1992 PF 7 Labeyrie, Louis 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1992-02-11)11 February 1992 PG 9 Knight, Marcos 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 35 – (1989-09-24)24 September 1989 PG 12 Taylor, Tony 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 34 – (1990-08-09)9 August 1990 F/C 15 Toropov, Sergey 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 35 – (1989-10-15)15 October 1989 C 21 Bako, Ismaël 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 29 – (1995-10-10)10 October 1995 F 22 Stulenkov, Alexandr 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1992-08-09)9 August 1992 F/C 27 Lopatin, Andrey 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 26 – (1998-08-27)27 August 1998 G 28 Platunov, Alexandr 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – (1997-07-06)6 July 1997	Head coach Velimir Perasović Assistant coach(es) Kostas Kaimakoglou Artur Bigeev Milan Karakas Team manager Mikhail Kolesnikov Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: October 5, 2024

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Ismaël Bako	Jalen Reynolds
PF	Andrey Lopatin	Louis Labeyrie	Aleksandr Stulenkov
SF	DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell	Dmitry Kulagin	Sergey Toporov
SG	Mikhail Belenitskii	Artem Komolov	Aleksandr Platunov
PG	Tony Taylor	Marcos Knight

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

bold – FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Russian

• Ruslan Avleev (1997–01, 04–06) – 301 games, 19.2 ppg;
• Petr Samoylenko (1998–07, 08–13) – 774 games, 5.8 ppg;
• Alexander Petrenko (1999–00) – 58 games, 13.2 ppg;
• Evgeniy Pashutin (2000–02) – 86 games, 8.5 ppg;
• Valentin Kubrakov (2000–02, 03–04) – 121 games, 8.5 ppg;
• Igor Kudelin (2002–03, 06–07) – 35 games, 8.1 ppg;
• Sergei Chikalkin (2002–03, 05–09) – 187 games, 10.6 ppg;
• Andrei Fetisov (2002–03) – 20 games, 6.2 ppg;
• Viktor Keirou (2003–05, 07–08) – 83 games, 5.4 ppg;
• Vadim Panin (2006–07) – 35 games, 6.1 ppg;
• Dmitri Sokolov (2006–09) – 128 games, 6.8 ppg;
• Nikolay Padius (2007–08, 10–11) – 59 games, 5.3 ppg;
• Fedor Likholitov (2009–10) – 10 games, 2.5 ppg;
• Zakhar Pashutin (2010–12) – 102 games, 4.3 ppg;
• Aleksey Savrasenko (2011–12) – 56 games, 4.6 ppg;
• Nikita Shabalkin (2012–13) – 28 games, 6.3 ppg;
• Egor Koulechov (2020–21)

Foreign

bold – former NBA players; Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

USA

• Glen Whisby (2000–01) – 51 games, 10.4 ppg;
• Anthony Bonner (2001–02) – 8 games, 14.9 ppg;
• Michael McDonald (2001–02) – 45 games; 12.2 ppg;
• Acie Earl (2001–02) – 30 games, 11.8 ppg;
• Dickey Simpkins* (2002–03) – 38 games, 12.3 ppg;
• Kebu Stewart (2002–03) – 18 games, 8.3 ppg;
• LaMarr Greer (2003–04) – 41 games; 12 ppg;
• Joe Ira Clark (2004–05) – 41 games, 7.8 ppg;
• Paul Shirley (2004–05) – 9 games, 4.9 ppg;
• Shammond Williams (2004–05) – 57 games, 17.1 ppg;
• Travis Best (2005–06) – 40 games, 11.5 ppg;
• Samaki Walker* (2005–06) – 4 games, 7 ppg;
• Sam Clancy, Jr. (2005–06) – 30 games, 4 ppg;
• Jarod Stevenson (2006–07) – 32 games; 10.4 ppg;
• Mateen Cleaves (2006–07) – 11 games, 5 ppg;
• Jerry McCullough (2006–08) – 80 games, 6.8 ppg;
• Tariq Kirksay (2007–09) – 95 games, 9.3 ppg;
• Joseph Forte (2007–08) – 11 games, 8.4 ppg;
• Marc Jackson (2008–09) – 19 games, 6.5 ppg;
• Terrell Lyday (2008–13) – 243 games, 12.2 ppg;
• Ricky Minard (2010–11) – 48 games, 7.4 pts;
• Kelly McCarty (2010–13) – 114 games, 9.5 ppg;
• Henry Domercant (2011–12) – 58 games, 13.4 ppg;
• Lynn Greer (2011–12) – 55 games, 8 ppg;
• Mike Wilkinson (2011–13) – 63 games, 7.1 ppg;
• Mire Chatman (2012–13) – 45 games, 8.5 ppg;
• Chuck Eidson (2012–13) – 48 games, 13.6 ppg;
• Drew Goudelock (2013–14) – 46 games, 19.3 ppg;
• John Holland (2020)
• O. J. Mayo (2021–22) – 9 games, 7.2 ppg;

Australia

• Chris Anstey (2003–05) – 93 games, 13.1 ppg;
• Nathan Jawai (2011–12) – 46 games, 8.7 ppg;

Europe

• D'or Fischer
• Alex Tyus
• Slobodan Šljivančanin (1998–00) – 117 games, 10 ppg;
• Branislav Vićentić (2001–02) – 29 games, 10.4 ppg;
• Oliver Popović (2001–03) – 80 games, 14.6 ppg;
• Damir Mršić (2002–03) – 31 games, 7.7 ppg;
• Eurelijus Žukauskas (2002–04) – 78 games, 10 ppg;
• Martin Müürsepp (2001–02, 03–04, 05–06) – 86 games, 11.3 ppg;
• Saulius Štombergas (2003–04, 05–07, 09–10) – 144 games, 11 ppg;
• Stevan Nađfeji (2004–05) – 40 games, 7.4 ppg;
• Kaspars Kambala (2004–05) – 54 games, 14.5 ppg;
• Kšyštof Lavrinovič (2005–07) – 78 games, 12.7 ppg;
• Darjuš Lavrinovič (2006–08) – 68 games, 12.9 ppg;
• Duško Savanović (2006–08) – 71 games, 10.3 ppg;
• Marko Tušek (2007–08) – 36 games, 10.1 ppg;
• Krešimir Lončar (2008–10) – 114 games, 11.8 ppg;
• Marko Popović (2008–11) – 142 games, 13.9 ppg;
• Vladimir Veremeenko (2008–13) – 249 games, 8.8 ppg;
• Maciej Lampe (2009–11) – 96 games, 15.9 ppg;
• Hasan Rizvić (2010–11) – 64 games, 5.4 ppg;
• Slavko Vraneš (2010–11) – 39 games, 2.6 ppg;
• Boštjan Nachbar (2011–12) – 22 games, 3.6 ppg;
• Ian Vougioukas (2012–13) – 47 games, 10.9 ppg;
• Kostas Kaimakoglou (2012–2021) – 37 games, 12.5 ppg;
• Artūras Milaknis (2015–16);
• Nenad Dimitrijević (2022–23) – VTB United League playoffs MVP;

• Maurice Ndour

Milan Gurović (2004) and Hüseyin Beşok (2005) shortly were under contract with UNICS Kazan, but never played a single game for the team.

(*) former NBA champions

Head coaches

bold – Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists

• Stanislav Eremin – 2000–06;
• Antanas Sireika – 2006–08;
• Aco Petrović – 2008–09;
• Valdemaras Chomičius – 2009–10;
• Evgeniy Pashutin – 2010–12;
• Aco Petrović – 2012–2013
• Stanislav Eremin – 2013;
• Andrea Trinchieri – 2013–2014
• Argiris Pedoulakis – 2014–2014
• Evgeniy Pashutin – 2014–2017
• Dimitrios Priftis – 2017–2021
• Velimir Perasović – 2021–

External links

• Official Site (in Russian)
• Eurobasket.com Team Info