Big man of the Ukrainian national team Rostyslav Novytskyi: “In the US I learned to play physically”

The Ukrainian men's national basketball team tomorrow, 31 August, will play its second game in the second round of World Cup qualifying 2027. After the opening win against Greece, the blue-and-yellows will play an important away game against Montenegro at the Morača Sports Center.

On the eve of the game, Hlavkom managed to speak with the national team's big man Rostyslav Novytskyi. In the conversation Novytskyi recalled his debut for the Ukrainian national team and also spoke in more detail about his experience playing in the US and in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League.

You broke into the Ukrainian national team after former head coach Vitalii Stepanovskyi called you up for a friendly tournament in Taipei. Tell us how you approached your first appearances for the national team?

That really was my first arrival to the national team. Back then we trained together intensively for two weeks, and then went to play. At that tournament I scored a lot of points, but that’s all I remember from it.

How do you now feel about having already become one of the national team's leading big men, who is called up to the national team fairly often?

When I get called up, of course it’s good for me. I come to work and to do what the coach wants from me.

You also went through the American basketball school, playing in the NCAA for Fordham. Did the Federation get in touch with you back then to get you to start playing for the national team, or were they just watching you?

I’m not exactly sure whether they were watching me, but they didn’t call me then. I was first called up after I came to Valmiera and spent a season there. And it was only after that that I was invited to national team training for the first time.

What did your NCAA experience give you most in terms of your professional basketball career?

I think there I learned to play physically. That’s probably the biggest plus for me — that I learned that in the NCAA and then began applying it to my European career.

You’ve played a lot in Europe, including in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. What did you like most about that championship, and what, conversely, did you not like?

It’s not the strongest championship in Europe, so I went there purely to show myself, to demonstrate my abilities. And I did that pretty well. Now I’ve moved to the Romanian championship, and that is a real step forward for me.

Right now the Ukrainian national team has many undersized centers (players who are shorter than traditional number-five positions — Hlavkom) (you, Viacheslav Bobrov, Artem Kovalov). How difficult is it for you to play the undersized center position and defend against guys who are 10–15 cm taller than you?

In the game against Greece it was actually a bit hard for me to battle the Greeks who are bigger than me. But I just try to give my maximum, play with energy, and I think that helps me a lot.

Recall that national team forward Ivan Tkachenko told Hlavkom about adapting to foreign championships, the specifics of constant moves, and support from his family.