On Monday evening, the Academics Heidelberg welcomed the Mitteldeutscher BC (MBC) from Weißenfels. For the new Heidelberg coach Ingo Freyer it was a meeting with his former club.
Ingo Freyer, new coach of Academics Heidelberg, suffered a defeat against Central German BC at its home premiere on Monday evening (January 22nd). The Heidelberg team lost 90:111 (40:52) against the 52-year-old head coach’s former employer.
Too many missed throws from a distance
Last season, Freyer took over the relegation-threatened team from Weißenfels and led them to stay in the league with two wins from the remaining six games. The firefighter is now on duty for Heidelberg and was able to celebrate his first win (84:83) on his debut in Braunschweig. The fact that there was no next win in the first home game under his leadership was due, among other things, to the performance in the first quarter. The hosts did not hit any of their first nine three-point shots and were behind 16:28 at the end of the first period.
A 9-0 point run at the beginning of the second quarter brought Ingo Freyer’s team closer, but the MBC was able to shift up a gear again and was ahead by twelve points at the break – 52:40.
Heidelberg continues without a home win
Thanks to an outstanding performance from Isaiah Whaley, who sank four three-pointers within the first five minutes of the third quarter, the Academics shortened the lead to 56:62. However, the deficit grew again afterwards and the team from Weißenfels restored the old gap of twelve points before the start of the final quarter (69:81).
It didn’t get really exciting in the last few minutes, the MBC played the game confidently over time and won 111:90. Even top scorer Isaiah Whaley’s 25 points couldn’t prevent Heidelberg’s defeat. This means that the Academics Heidelberg, even with new coach Ingo Freyer, remains the only team in the Basketball Bundesliga that has yet to win at home. The Academics are seventeenth in the table with three wins, the MBC has six wins and is fourteenth.
Injury concerns plague Heidelberg
A personnel decision was announced before the game started on Monday evening. The Academics Heidelberg have reacted to the injury-related loss of national player Paul Zipser and brought back Jeffrey Carroll. Carroll played for Heidelberg until the end of December 2023 before the temporary separation occurred. Zipser will be out for a few weeks due to knee problems.
“With Ingo Freyer we now have a new coach on the sidelines who, after intensive discussions with Jeff and the team, came to the conclusion that Jeff deserved a second chance,” said managing partner Matthias Lautenschläger. Carroll was already used against MBC and scored 16 points.
Broadcast on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024 6:00 a.m., SWR Aktuell in the morning, SWR Aktuell
