There was the qualification, and there was the content. For once, Tours MB managed to do both, this Tuesday, September 24, by overturning a match that had started badly against Évreux (83-71). Once relegated to 13 lengths (39-52, 24e), the Tours team sounded the revolt, first in defense and by clearly raising their intensity on all sides of the field. A winning recipe, to be repeated on Friday in Toulouse. This is the wish of Cédric Heitz, their coach.
Cédric Heitz (TMB coach): “Limiting them to 28 points in the second half made the difference, with an increase in intensity on our part, a different defensive coordination, a desire not to be beaten, an increased desire on the rebound. We showed a great reaction. It’s nice, especially in front of our fans because at one point, it wasn’t a pretty sight…
In this Coupe de France match, we also wanted to share playing time, and we did. It was a very good training session against a team with real potential ahead of our trip to Toulouse. The Cup is, however, not our goal. We take the matches as they come. This qualification validates what we do in training. We defended better than in Lorient. There is still progress to be made in ball control, but we showed some good things.”
Marc Namura (Evreux coach): “The most important thing for us is clearly the championship. Now, it was a match to work on, to break the momentum we are in with two defeats in the championship and another in a friendly. The goal was therefore to be serious. We were serious for twenty-eight, thirty minutes, before suffering the impacts of Tours to which we were unable to find the answers. We did not have their answer. We are quickly physically constrained. In this match, Mbimi, who is a hopeful, must play about fifteen minutes… We have injuries, but we also make a lot of mistakes. Mentally, technically, we are not at the level. We still have a lot, a lot of work to do.”
