Soft-spoken off the court, Will Yeguete has accepted to blog for us for the remainder of the season, as he keep working hard to try to help Monaco win the EuroCup title!
Will Yeguete, Monaco: 'We are still alive'
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7 mins read
AS Monaco has only improved in his three seasons in the EuroCup, reaching the Top 16 in its first campaign and qualifying to the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. In the last two years, one of its main pillars inside has been big man Wilfried Yeguete, one of the best per-minute rebounders in the competition. Yeguete has an interesting basketball background, as he played for the University of Florida for four years along with 2017-18 EuroCup MVP anf former roommate Scottie Wilbekin. Yeguete went on to play for STB Le Havre, Pau-Orthez and Le Mans before joining Monaco. Soft-spoken off the court, Yeguete has accepted to blog for us for the remainder of the season, as he keep working hard to try to help Monaco win the EuroCup title!
Hello everybody! I am starting my EuroCup blog right before one of the most important games in club history! I am Will Yeguete and play for AS Monaco. I played my whole professional career in France but also played for the Florida Gators men's basketball team at the University of Florida. I was there for four years and played with some guys you may know, like Scottie "Superstar" Wilbekin. I played four years with him and he was also my roommate. We are still close friends today. We stay in touch and try to meet up every summer. There were four us that came together and left together Florida, and we all stay in touch, so Scottie is still today a really close friend of mine.
Scottie won the EuroCup with Darussafaka and then he went to Tel Aviv. I enjoyed watching him play that season, when he had that big run in the EuroCup and pretty much took care of the team all the way to the title. Scottie is a special player. I think that when he is confident, he can make reallt big shots, and is a good defender as well. He is a great leader and a great shotmaker. Down the stretch, the ball being in his hands is a guarantee of a big shot or a foul. He is a great player. I also played with Bradley Beal, Patrick Young - who was with Olympiacos and Milan - or Alex Tyus, who won the EuroLeague with Maccabi and is with Real Madrid now. He had a great career in Europe. I played with Chandler Parsons, Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, Erik Murphy, who are all still around, playing overseas.
"This is high-level basketball... and it is good to be in the quarterfinals now."
As for me, this is my second EuroCup season and it is an exciting moment for us, facing Game 3 of the Quarterfinals against Buducnost. The competition is really tough, especially this year. Obviously, we also made it to the playoffs last season and had a great run but it got stopped. We have a big squad this year, I like the team, the competition and the fact that we are able to play, even without fans. It is really physical, high-level basketball and I also like the fact that we can play with our hearts and the referees let us play. So this is high-level basketball, there are good players and it is good to be in the quarterfinals now, to be one of the eight teams at this level.
As you see, we lost at home against Buducnost and then bounce back in Game 2. We didn't play the right way in Game 1 and had a lot of turnovers. We didn't put the ball inside and couldn't stop their pick-and-roll offense, but we adjusted well in the second game. We didn't play great in Game 1 but still we were by 6 with, I think, 1:40 left. So we had the game in our hands but they made big plays down the stretch. Justin Cobbs made some big shots. They looked for their advantages, especially Cobbs and Reed.
"We just have to win one game and we will be in the semifinals. We hope we can get the job done."
Cobbs hit the go-ahead shot but I don't think it came down to that. I played with Justin one year in Le Mans and that's his shot, he will make that mid-range shot just like that. This is kind of what he does, and he was able to make it. And at the end, we had a really good look with Mathias Lessort and obviously, everybody saw it, he missed it, but it was a great look. But the game didn't come down to that, we made some mistakes before that and were not able to capitalize down the stretch in the final play with Mathias. Unfortunately, he missed the shot, that's basketball, but then he was our best player in Game 2. He gave us a lot of energy and strength inside. We were all really eager to bounce back. Losing at home was tough because we felt we were the better team but they were able to make some big plays down the stretch but we are still alive. We just have to win one game, and we will be in the semifinals. We hope we can get the job done on Wednesday.
We will miss our fans in Game 3 but even without them, I think there is still some home-court advantage. It helps playing at home. We played Monday at home and the game is also at home two days later. We don't have to travel between close games and I believe this is an advantage for us, being able to stay home, stay with our families, sleep in our beds... Of course, we won't have our fans but it is better to play at home than on the road. We have to be a really, really good defensively, put them into foul trouble early in the game, and put the ball inside. We have to attack the paint - Mathias, Rob Gray and Marcos Knight are really good at that. If we don't settle for threes too much, we will put ourselves in a good situation to be able to win the game. We have to guard as well and make sure they guard us. In Game 2, we were able to attack them inside, drew some fouls, find Mathias and Damian Inglis inside and just battle. They have big, physical guys inside and rebounding is going to be the key for Game 3.
"It is a great opportunity for us to be able to put Monaco more on the European map."
I will keep trying to help my team as much as I can. I try to be within my role and with the team that we have, I know I have to be aggressive, offensively and defensively. We have really good guards that can play and put the ball in the basket but sometimes we need hustle plays, rebounding, steals, defensive stops and things that I feel I am really, really good at. I feel like I have to be great at this area of my game to be able to help my team to the fullest.
I think it is going to be the most important game in the history of the club. We are in a great situation because we lost Game 1 but are back at home. It is a great opportunity for us, to be able to put Monaco more on the European map, and we are thankful to play at home. We know it is going to be tough on Wednesday but if we do things right, we will get the job done. We have to be willing to compete and really, really battle.