Natyazhko: 'Ukraine team must learn its lessons'

KIEV (FIBA Basketball World Cup/EuroBasket) - Kyryl Natyazhko and Ukraine want to prove once again they can win important games in Europe.

After a sixth-place finish at EuroBasket 2013, Ukraine exited the  2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup after the Group Phase.

Ukraine had to go home, although the players did give spectators in Bilbao plenty to talk about.

That result, coupled with the relocation of EuroBasket 2015 from Ukraine to France, Latvia, Germany and Croatia due to the political and civil strife in his homeland, meant the year was a disappointing one for Natyazhko and basketball fans.

"As a group we took it (World Cup performance) as a lesson," Natyazhko said to FIBA.com. 

"Everyone talked about how great it was that we had made it there (qualified), and for the whole year you feel good and everyone is smiling.

"But when the games start, it’s no fun anymore. You have to hustle to get back to that same stage. 

"We didn’t do what we knew we could do. It’s not that we didn’t concentrate, but maybe we let the success get to our head."

Ukraine were a tad unfortunate because what kept them out of the Round of 16 was a goal-differential tiebreaker.

Turkey and the Dominican Republic each won two of their Group C games as Ukraine did but advanced.

"It’s still good, the first time in Ukraine history, that we were so close getting to that next round," Natyazhko said. 

"I can say that we have been a little bit unlucky but mostly, I have to say it was our fault that we didn’t get to the next round. 

"We just have to reorganize ourselves and use this as motivation to do bigger things this summer."

This summer is when Ukraine will return to the EuroBasket.

They will compete in Group D in Riga against hosts Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium and the Czech Republic.

"I think it’s a pretty even group, other than Lithuania," he said. 

"Lithuania are better than everyone else. 

"Maybe I can say that Ukraine now is a little more experienced and now we need to look at this group to prove again to ourselves and the people around the world that we can play high-level basketball. 

"For us, we need to accept the bigger challenges. 

"We need for sure to advance but it’s a pretty even group. 

"These Baltic teams, they’re pretty strong shooting teams so we have to be ready for that. 

"But I do think it’s a good draw. They’re all good teams at the EuroBasket, though. There aren’t going to be any weak teams."

Natyazhko won't have to acclimatize to the Baltic air because he is playing for Vilnius outfit Lietuvos Rytas this season.

He travelled to the country at the end of October.

"It’s an honor to play for the national team, for all the players who come no matter what league they come from, from Europe, the NBA," he said.

"I feel like my game was taken to another level with the national team. 

"First of all, we put our names on the board. 

"You can tell when you face other clubs, how they look at you. 

"It helps you to see how you can compete against the best players, from the NBA."

The failure at the World Cup still burns Natyazhko, even if he did learn a lot.

"Every game is important," he said. 

"You’ve got to take one game at a time. 

"That’s the only way you can achieve good things in a tournament."

That will be the approach at the EuroBasket, where teams are going to try and clinch places in the Olympics or at bare minimum, claim spots in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

"It’s really a long tournament," he said. 

"You can’t get too excited about a win and then show up the next day not ready to play against other teams. 

"So you have to be ready for each game to be able to achieve what we want."

It would have helped Ukraine's cause if Sergii Gladyr had not gotten hurt in their game against Finland.

The 1.99m shooting guard, a starter, wasn't able to feature in the third and fourth games although he did log a single minute against the United States at the end, once the result was beyond doubt.

"For sure, he’s one of our main players," Natyazhko said.

"To lose a player like this, it really hurt us. You can’t do anything about it. 

"We still have to regroup and think about what we did wrong as a team. 

"We were still really close as a team to going on to the next round. He for sure would have helped us but you can’t say that had he played, we would have gone on." 

As for the disappointment of not hosting EuroBasket 2015?

"It’s really disappointing at first but if you see how things are progressing and the things that are going on, to sit here and talk about not having the EuroBasket when people are dying, well, what can be worse than people dying?" he said.

"You can’t really complain that the EuroBasket isn’t there. There is a war in the country. We can’t really control that and we can’t really talk about basketball when it comes to people’s lives. 

"I would love to have the EuroBasket and the opportunity to play in front of our own people in my own country but we need to look at how things are playing out right now and admit that it’s the best thing for our country right now is to have a peaceful resolution for our country."

FIBA