After the short trip to the USA, the former basketball champion <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/basketball-bundesliga-bayern-defeat-bonn-and-take-the-lead/" title="Basketball Bundesliga: Bayern defeat Bonn and take the lead”>ratiopharm Ulm ends up in everyday life in the Bundesliga. The strain of travel has noticeable consequences.
The first defeat of the season was severe, the lead in the table was lost, but the Ulm basketball players agreed that it was worth it. The trip to the USA to play against the Portland Trail Blazers had cost too much energy, and in everyday Bundesliga play the former champions lost to EWE Baskets Oldenburg (66:93).
“We knew before the season what we were getting into on this away trip and still had big plans for this game,” said captain Tommy Klepeisz: “It was a tough week.”
Oldenburg’s coach Pedro Callas also saw it this way: “We won against a very good team, although Ulm obviously had a lot of kilometers under its belt. So we should stay on the carpet.”
Big backlog after strenuous travel
The Ulm team’s legs were heavy, the adventure on the floor in Portland had ended just 60 hours earlier, and then they immediately went back to Germany. But the strain of traveling with almost 16,000 kilometers and a nine-hour time difference was too much. The deficit was already large at the break (29:46).
“Oldenburg played more physically than us – this is also proven by 42 Oldenburg points in the zone and 19 second throw attempts,” said Ulm coach Ry Harrelson: “We had 20 turnovers, we have to work on that. We lost by double digits in three quarters.”
And yet: Nobody in Ulm regrets the exciting short trip. The impressions from Portland remain with the young team, but unfortunately so do the aftereffects. Because ratiopharm Ulm doesn’t have much time to relax. Soon we’ll be on the road again: there’s a game in the EuroCup in Gran Canaria on Tuesday (9 p.m.).
