By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Competing over the course of one season in three different competitions isn’t an easy task. But since Ibon Navarro moved to Malaga to sit on Unicaja‘s bench, complicated accomplishments have become a tendency.
Following their recent sweep over Pallacanestro Reggiana in the Basketball Champions League Quarter-Finals, the reigning champions have found themselves classified for the third straight Final Four.
After hosting the Semi-Finals and Finals in Malaga in 2023 and winning it all in Belgrade in 2024, they will now await the result of the best-of-three series between AEK and Nanterre to figure out if they will compete in Athens or Paris. And that’s already a success.
To arrive at such a result, you need a well-trained group capable of beating other organized teams. Ibon Navarro knows how to recognize a well-coached squad when he sees one.
“I believe there are two things the two Italian teams [classified for the Quarter-Finals] have in common: they are both very well coached,” Unicaja‘s head coach said to Eurohoops after the road win in Game 2.
“I think that in recent years, the BCL has been improving more and more in terms of coaching level. And that’s something that helps teams grow a lot. We’ve faced teams like Nymburk, Galatasaray, Derthona, and Reggio Emilia – and you can see all of them are very well prepared. Of course, there’s also Tenerife.”
“And even some teams that didn’t make it through, right? Manresa, Rytas. We’re talking about very well-coached teams. I think that’s the biggest evolution we’re seeing in the competition – the coaching level. It’s allowing teams without big names to play at their absolute best,” the Spanish tactician added.
Even though they couldn’t count on such an astonishing star power, the Italians were a difficult opponent to deal with at their home in PalaBigi. Unicaja’s 105-68 outburst in Game 1, according to Ibon Navarro, “was very misleading.”
“They’re a very organized team, they play really well, and at home they have that extra energy their fans give them. Winning this game, despite how poorly we shot, with low three-point [30.6%] and free-throw percentages [60.0%], was a big achievement,” he commented.
“I honestly believe the team has taken several steps forward, just like we did in the first game, on defense, which allowed us to qualify for the Final Four for the third year in a row. We’re really proud and happy about that, because making it to the Final Four is very hard. Doing it three times is even harder.”
Dealing with losses as part of the journey
While Tenerife completed their trajectory to the umpteenth Final Four of the club’s history in the Basketball Champions League with a 14-0 run, Malaga had only one setback, against Galatasaray.
Even though losing just one game in the whole competition might sound irrelevant, Unicaja has been used to almost always finding themselves on the winning end, dealing with the pressure of never being the underdogs. They earned this status by competing until the very end in each game.
However, that’s one of the most precious lessons this group has been learning. “We’re losing games in the domestic league, mainly because it’s not easy to win all the time,” Navarro opened.
“What we’ve learned in recent years is that we used to feel this urgent need to fix things right away instead of treating a loss as just part of the journey. That ends up draining energy, the same energy that you really need later in the season for the ACB Playoffs.”
San Pablo Burgos were the only team to successfully defend their #BasketballCL title, just sayin’ 🙂↕ Unicaja are back to the Final Four for the third year in a row! pic.twitter.com/TtacaniWte
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) April 15, 2025
“It’s not easy to maintain that positive pressure that pushes you to win just because you’re a big team in both the BCL and the ACB. In the BCL, we’ve been able to win games, also because you play fewer of them. In the ACB, we’re struggling,” Unicaja’s head coach touched on once again.
“I think we’re trying to manage losses in a different way, with less urgency to bounce back immediately, and more as part of the journey, part of the process of arriving stronger at the end,” he also commented.
Alongside the already mentioned Tenerife, the team from Southern Spain has now become an usual habits once the season gets harder in the Basketball Champions League.
“I think there’s clearly one team that’s been dominating the BCL in recent years, and that’s Tenerife. They’ve been consistently making it to the Final Four year after year. I think being there for a third straight time shows that this team is solid and has become a reference point in the competition.”
“But now comes the hardest part. There are two games left, both likely on the host team’s home court in the semifinal, and that will be really tough. Still, I hope we arrive in good form and that we have a real shot at it,” Ibon Navarro eyed the upcoming appointment in the Semi-Finals.
Right before he could be crowned champions at the 2024 Final Four in Belgrade as Unicaja’s leader, Kendrick Perry said that Ibon Navarro “has changed his life”. Has Unicaja changed Ibon’s?
Agradecido
💜💚 https://t.co/44OP8GdcMF— Ibon Navarro (@ibonnavarro) February 10, 2025
“I believe this city, this club, this team has changed all of our lives,” he answered frankly. “When we built the team in the summer of 2022, we didn’t sign a single EuroLeague significant player. Dylan Osetkowski had played at ASVEL, but with limited minutes,” he added.
“The others had only had brief appearances. Kendrick Perry was at Panathinaikos. A lot of guys weren’t really seen as capable of playing at this level, and what we told all of them was that we wanted to help them reach the next level – to turn them into valuable role players on EuroLeague teams.”
“No one is going to come to Unicaja to sign the star of a EuroLeague team, but right now, any EuroLeague club would sign any Unicaja player to be the sixth, seventh, or eighth man — because they know these are guys who come in, make an impact in 15-16-17 minutes, which is what they’d get at that level,” he explained. And cases like Dario Brizuela’s in Barcelona prove it.
“I think this club, this city, this team has changed all of our lives — for the better. And I think we have to be grateful for that, and that’s one of the reasons we have to keep giving our very best until the final day.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League