BC UNICS () 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.
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 Championship 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 SeasonTierDivisionRussian Cup European competitions Other competitions1997–981Superleague A 7th 3 Korać Cup 1998–991Superleague A 5th 2 Saporta Cup 1999–001Superleague A 3rd 3 Korać Cup 2000–011Superleague A 2nd 2 Saporta Cup 2001–021Superleague A 2nd 2 Saporta Cup2002–031Superleague A 3rd Winner 3 FIBA Champions Cup NEBL 2003–041Superleague A 2nd Third place 3 FIBA Europe League 2004–051Superleague A 3rd Runner-up 3 FIBA Europe League 2005–061Superleague A 4th Third place 2 ULEB Cup 2006–071Superleague A 2nd Runner-up 2 ULEB Cup 2007–081Superleague A 6thSemifinals 2 ULEB Cup 2008–091Superleague A 3rd Winner 2 Eurocup 2009–101Superleague A 3rd Runner-up 2 Eurocup United League 2010–111PBL 3rd 1 Euroleague United League 3rd 2 Eurocup 2011–121PBL 5th 1 Euroleague United League 2012–131PBL 6th 1 Euroleague United League 2 Eurocup 2013–141VTB United League 3rdWinner 2 Eurocup 2014–151 VTB United League 6th Second qualifying1 Euroleague 2 Eurocup 2015–161VTB United League 2nd First qualifying 2 Eurocup 2016–171VTB United League 5th Round of 64 1 EuroLeague 2017–181VTB United League 4th 2 EuroCup 2018–191VTB United League 3rd First round 2 EuroCup 2019–201VTB United League 4th 2 EuroCup 2020–211VTB United League 2nd 2 EuroCup 2021–221VTB United League 3rd 1 EuroLeague United League Supercup 3rd2022–231VTB United League 1st Round of 8 United League Supercup 7th2023–241VTB United League 2nd United League Supercup 2nd
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Notable players
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; Aleksei Zozulin (2000–05) 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; Pavel Antipov (2012–15, 2022–23) Sergei Bykov (2015–2017) Egor Koulechov (2020–21) Andrey Vorontsevich (2021–23)
Foreign bold – former NBA players; Olympics, FIBA World and FIBA Europe champions and medalists
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; Andrew Goudelock (2013–14) – 46 games, 19.3 ppg; John Holland (2020, 22) Raymar Morgan (2018–20) Errick McCollum (2018–20) Okaro White (2020–21) Nate Wolters (2020–21) Isaiah Canaan (2020–22) John Brown (2020–22) O. J. Mayo (2021–22) – 9 games, 7.2 ppg; Jalen Reynolds (2022–present) Erick Green (2023–24) Canada Melvin Ejim (2017–19) Australia Chris Anstey (2003–05) – 93 games, 13.1 ppg; Nathan Jawai (2011–12) – 46 games, 8.7 ppg;
Europe 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; Nikos Zisis (2013–14) D'or Fischer (2014–15) Kostas Kaimakoglou (2012–2021) – 37 games, 12.5 ppg; Artūras Milaknis (2015–16) Quino Colom (2015–18) Jordan Theodore (2019–21) Alex Tyus (2019–20) Mario Hezonja (2021–22) Marco Spissu (2021–22) Louis Labeyrie (2022–2025) Nenad Dimitrijević (2022–23) – VTB United League playoffs MVP;
Africa Maurice Ndour (2017–19) Pierriá Henry (2018–19) – EuroCup Regular Season MVP Tonye Jekiri (2021–22)
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–
References
External links
Official Site Eurobasket.com Team Info