The Vikings finished their first season in the VTB United League. It turned out to be difficult, but extremely interesting. We have collected all the most important events of the club in the past season.
Three wins at the start of the season brought Runa to the leadership. Unfortunately, the Vikings failed to gain a foothold at the top of the table. But in the fall, everyone without exception had to reckon with our team.
Beating the current champion of the United League is not something every newcomer can do. On November 9, Runa beat UNICS Kazan away with a score of 86:83. Probably no one expected this. But the Vikings took a historic win and forced the team to be taken seriously.
6 Runa players made their debut in the VTB League. Kirill Savin and Andrei Sopin became strong rotation players, and in some games they were even an X-factor. Nikita Malofeev, Egor Vanin, Ivan Samoilenko and Boris Mitkin also received their first playing minutes in the League – we are waiting for further progress from our young guys!
The first soldout for our club took place in the derby against CSKA. To get a full arena, we launched a special Soldout Challenge and promised, if successful, to hold an open training session for our fans. As a result, on November 18, the Vikings, in front of full home stands, gave battle to the most titled club in Russia, losing only in the end – 74:80. We didn’t forget about the fans – the open training took place and gave unforgettable emotions to all participants. And also before the game we made a bright promotional video.
Comeback from «-20» were made be Runa in the away game against Astana on November 30. Our team overcame the deficit in regulation time and took an epic victory in overtime – 93:90.
The large-scale signing of the title partner Baltbet took place at a home game with MBA at the end of December. Together with our partner, we held a colorful laser show and gave each (!) fan a branded T-shirt. Surprises continued throughout the season: together with Baltbet we created a special merch #РунаВперёт, Viking’s Secret and Runa is about love.
Creatives by our club delighted fans throughout the debut season. Together we celebrated the New Year in the style of a children's party, where we sang the club anthem in chorus – it turned out «Hard to the Notes». And by Valentine’s Day, the captain of our team, Artem Komissarov, managed to charm not only the heroine of the promotional video, but also all the spectators of Speed Dating, which took place at the Dynamo Sports Palace on LOVEchkina.
The most productive game by Vikings was played at the beginning of the second stage. The away meeting with Samara ended in a brilliant victory with a score of 98:85. In the fourth quarter of this game, our team scored 31 points – another record for the debut season.
32 points by Jeremiah Hill against Samara – the best individual performance for Runa. In that meeting, the American guard repeated his career record. And this season, Jeremiah broke the 1,000-point mark in the VTB League and became the championship record holder in the number of assists – 16 dimes in the April game with Astana. For all these achievements, fans recognized Hill as the club's best player this season.
The first All-Star Game for Runa also happened in the debut season. Jeremiah Hill played for Javier Pascual's team, scored 16 points and made 4 steals. In addition, J had the biggest highlight of the evening – a three-pointer that hit two hoops. Kirill Savin also took part in the 2024 VTB League All-Star Game and took third place in the three-point competition.
Russian national team called up three Runa players. Ilya Popov, Danila Pokhodyaev and Kirill Savin took part in the national team’s February training camp. Popov and Pokhodyaev also played for the Russian national team in a friendly game with Samara. Ilya scored 15 points and 4 rebounds in 23.7 minutes on the court, and Danila scored 3 points and 2 rebounds in 9 minutes.
Personal records were set by experienced Runa players at the end of the season. Popov scored 25 points against MINSK – this is his most productive game of his career. In addition, the center became the record holder for our club in the number of games and scored 1000 points for the Vikings. Artem Komissarov updated his record in the United League – 21 points from the captain in the final game of the season against Uralmash. It is also worth noting the performance of Juwan Morgan, who scored four double-doubles in a row in March.
Videoblogs by Runa have already become a household name in Russian basketball. Indeed, it is a pleasure to watch our talented players, coaches and staff! Thanks to vlogs, as well as charismatic performances at the post-game press conferences by our head coach Ertugrul Erdogan, the Runa's YouTube channel became the second in the VTB League in terms of the number of subscribers. And this season we launched a women's vlog – watch the champion's episode!
Alex Tyus entered the top 3 of the United League in blocked shots. Uncle Sasha distributed 1.3 blocks on average per game and provided Runa with steel protection in the paint. In the team standings, the Vikings are in second place with 3.4 blocked shots per game.
The meeting with the fans after the final home game of the regular season was special. Once again we thank everyone who supported the club in this difficult season and was with the team until the end. It was You who inspired us to 16 wins in the VTB League. Just remember that You are the best!
- Author: Vladislav Mashurov
- Source: PBC Runa
