Basketball Club Dynamo Moscow > Official Site > Dynamo Moscow vs. Lukoil Academic

Since he landed in Europe four seasons ago, apparently with a pair of springs under his feet, swingman Travis Hansen of Dynamo Moscow has seen plenty of success. Having started with a pair of Final Four appearances before injury robbed him of the same opportunity last season. Although he doesn't jump so high since the injury, Hansen is now trying to lift Dynamo back to the Euroleague. He is the third-best scorer left in the ULEB Cup, averaging 19.1 points on a Dynamo team that also has the top scorer, Henry Domercant. With points always at the ready, Hansen knows that at this time of year, defense will have to carry Dynamo forward.

"The ULEB Cup has been good. It's tough competition and with the Final Eight this season, it's pretty cool. I like it. Competition-wise, there are a bunch of good teams in the ULEB Cup, teams that are capable of playing in the Euroleague. Obviously the competition in the Euroleague is better, but the ULEB Cup, I've been pretty surprised, it's pretty good. For us it's normal to reach the Last 16. We expected to be here. We expect to go to the Final Eight and one of our goals is to win the ULEB Cup. So we have big goals and big aspirations and we look forward to getting better and to keep playing hard."

"It's my first year in the ULEB Cup and I'm coming back from an injury. Last year we were in the Euroleague and I tore my Achilles. So honestly this has been a good year for to come back and play well in the ULEB Cup. Before the injury I was a lot more athletic and a probably a step quicker. It takes a long time for your jumping to come back from an injury like the Achilles. So I don't think my jumping is necessarily the same, probably a little bit less, but it makes me have better balance. I don't jump as high when I shoot so my shot has gotten a lot better."

“We actually played in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the preseason and played Lukoil. So we know what the team's like. Obviously, they're a very good team. They're a Last 16 team and they've been in the ULEB Cup the last five or six years. They're one of the best teams in Bulgaria, obviously. We've started watching video on them and preparing for next week's game. I played with Donta Smith in Atlanta, but I think he's injured. I know Willie Deane and Pero Antic from Serbia. He's been playing very well. He's having a great year."

Defense is the key for us. Willie Deane is a scorer and you need to control him. You need to control Antic. We need to play together on defense. Everyone knows that to win the ULEB Cup, to win the Euroleague, to win any kind of championship, you need to play well as a team on defense. I like our chances."

To prepare its fourth assault in five seasons on the ULEB Cup the elimination rounds, Lukoil Academic went for plenty added experience. Power forward Haris Mujezinovic is not only a former ULEB Cup champ whose team play and basketball IQ always pay dividends, but he has played in an amazing 12 different countries during his pro career. Mujezinovic proved to be the perfect complement for star big man Pero Antic as he averaged 13 points in Lukoil's first-round victory over Ventspils. Now, Mujezinovic is ready to face one of his many former teams, Dynamo Moscow, and center Robertas Javtokas, with whom he won the 2005 ULEB Cup with Lietuvos Rytas.

"I started the season late because I had surgery this summer and took a while for me to recover. I went to Panionios and was not ready to play, but I got the opportunity to sign for Lukoil. Now I am physically ready to play. Everybody expected us to do well against Ventspils, even when we played really bad in the first leg. We had a lot of pressure in the second leg, but we played really well to win the series. This was the goal of our season, to overcome an elimination round for the first time. We accomplished this and now we face Dynamo Moscow. It is a great challenge for everybody and for myself, too."

"There are guys in Dynamo who I played with, such as Milos Vujanic, Dimitri Domani and Robertas Javtokas. Javtokas and I won the ULEB Cup title with Lietuvos Rytas in 2005. It will be interesting to play against Javtokas. This is the first time that we are going to go against each other, since I have never played against him on different teams. I heard that he is doing very well, so I am excited about the challenge."

"This is an 80-minute game and I would say that the pressure is on us in the first leg, since we play at home. The first goal is to win the first leg - that's the most important thing - and worry about the second leg in Moscow after the game in Sofia is over. They have a great team, a great coach and a lot of expectations for their ULEB Cup season, as one of the favourites to lift the trophy. Sometimes it is better to be the underdog. The key is playing hard and executing our game plan. They have so many good players that you cannot stop everybody."

"The year we won the ULEB Cup with Lietuvos Rytas, we lost all our elimination rounds road games against PAOK, Aris and Pamesa, but did it by a narrow margin of points, enough for us to win each series back in Vilnius. The point differential plays a big role, of course, but the most important thing in playing well, win the first leg and try to go through. Lukoil has already accomplished something that it never had before, but the guys on this team are really hungry. I was very surprised with the attitude of the players on this team. Everybody wants more and we all hate to lose. I want to go through. I want to win the ULEB Cup. I won it once and I want to win it again. The expectations of the players are to win the whole thing, one game at a time."