Interview: Kemal Rutkay Özcan
Translation: Begüm Ünal
Video editing: Murat Akcan
Text editing: Onur Coşkun
Yesterday – before the afternoon training of Fenerbahçe – we had an opportunity to do a great interview with big center Ekpe Udoh. We talked to the star of the yellow-navy jerseys and discussed his daily life in the Fenerbahçe family.
Let’s leave the stage to the American player who is highly respected by all regardless of their opinion. Enjoy it!
First, let’s start with a recent event. Yesterday against Galatasaray, you played despite of your injury but were you comfortable on the court? Or you just took one for the team?
Both. I was somewhat comfortable, still sore but it is what it is. We had to win, that was a big one for especially since we haven’t won there in a while so we just gotta continue to get better. We got to be ready for this Bamberg game and just continue to trick, you know, for the Play-Off Round this year.
Yesterday you played against a strong crowd, like a lot of stuff happened during the game, especially against Melih Mahmutoğlu, your captain. What do you think about that?
I don’t understand Turkish (Laughing) so I don’t understand it in any chance. But it is what it is, at the end of the day, what goes on the court matters. What the crowd is doing shouldn’t affect us. We were able to tune that out and get the win.
This season overall, Fenerbahçe has been playing with more ups and downs, compared to last season, in games or in general. What are your thoughts about the reasons of this?
That’s just part of our story this year. Last year we had our own story, we were a different team. Then this year, [there is] the new EuroLeague schedule. It is just part of our story. I just think we got to continue to trend upward, continue to get better and be aggressive throughout the game.