Listed as 1.98 meters tall, he says that's an exaggerated by a couple centimeters. The difference hardly changes the fact that Unics Kazan swingman Tariq Kirksay - who is even playing backup point guard these days - has been the ULEB Cup's rebounds leader for the last two seasons. He pulled down 9.6 rebounds on average last season with SLUC Nancy of France and is grabbing 9.14 per game during this one with Unics, whose comeback from three early losses to the Final Eight is the turnaround story of the competition. Perhaps never in a major competition has so short a player been back-to-back rebounds king, but in Kirksay's explanation is a hint as to how careful the other teams at the Final Eight should be about this player and his team. "Everything is determination," Kirksay told ULEBcup.com "I try to play every possession of the game like it's the most important one, on defense especially. I try to be the first one back playing defense, trying to get the steal, make the block, get the board. I don't take any possessions off. On every one, I am trying to win the game. I want the ball on offense and I want to guard the guy with the ball on defense. I want to be everywhere on every play."
Hi Tariq. Congratulations on reaching the ULEB Cup Final Eight. Tell us about the road that Unics took to reach Turin.
"It's been a tough road, starting from beginning to where we are now. We came a long way, and I think it all started with us not having a Christmas break. Our coach kept us here over Christmas, and we just worked and worked. And that was after we all anticipated going home. We had been through a lot at the beginning of the season: losing, guys hurt, coaching change, guys fired. We were a little mentally disturbed and tired and looking forward to the break to refresh and come back strong. Our new coach said we needed to work instead. At that time, you're not thinking like him. You're thinking Christmas, go home, enjoy, have fun, clear your head and come back re-charged. Instead, we worked for 10 days. Now, however, when I think back on that time, I'm happy we spent the break that way. We worked and we became a completely different team. Everybody worked hard the whole week. Nobody dogged it. And every since then, we've got it done. We had a 39-point difference to make up against Jerusalem and we beat them by 52! That got us qualified for the next round and from there on we stepped up our game in every aspect."
You personally have had another stellar ULEB Cup campaign, contributing in nearly every area. What was the transition like for you joining Unics Kazan this summer?
"It was difficult at first. They kind of recruited me to play the four position. It was kind of funny. I don't mind playing the four, as long as I'm on court, but I played four this time and didn't fit well with our offense. On defense it was OK, but not on offense. There was a different chemistry and it didn't look so good for me. After, our coach started working with me at the three and two positions, and things started getting better for me personally. After that, I was OK playing on the outside, and now, with our new coach, I am even spend a lot of time, like 15 minutes a game, backing up our point guard, Jerry McCullough."
Last season your team, SLUC Nancy, surprised many with a strong showing in the ULEB Cup, but now you're playing for a team with much bigger expectations. Is there more pressure to win at Kazan?
"Last year, I don't want to say we didn't have pressure. We knew we had the qualities to win the ULEB Cup and we ended up losing to another French team that I thought we were better than. That team went and lost to Lietuvos Rytas, who we thought we could beat, too, so we missed a chance at the final. We slipped against the other French team because we took them too lightly. Here at Unics, our problems in the beginning had to do with pressure. This team was in the ULEB Cup semis last year, lost the Russian Cup to CSKA and then lost in the Russian finals to them. Their expectation was to keep moving up and win something. All that pressure wasn't handled as well as it could have been. I think there's less pressure now because of the way the season started. After that, we were not expected to qualify. Beating Turk Telekom was a big surprise for people. Then we stopped Artland and now we're in the Final Eight. We turned it around and everyone on the outside might be thinking we're a surprise. On the inside, we know that we came a long way. Even in the Russian League we're up to third place. We completely turned around the season. Now, we're going to Italy with no pressure and, with another week to work, we're confident."
You had a busy summer playing for the French National Team at the EuroBasket. How has that experience helped you as a player?
"I was proud to be nominated on that team and to be able to play with some of their NBA guys and find out what great guys they are. From outside you might think they are stuck up, making big money and don't work hard. It was completely the opposite. Everyone worked hard. For me, that was the highest-level basketball I have played in my life and I was happy to be there. I had personal goals to prove to myself playing at that level. I was able to show that I belonged, and I was happy for that, but I was disappointed about the results. We had a team capable of winning the championship, but after losing to Russia in the quarterfinals, our heads got away from us."
 Let's look at this ULEB Cup season. Unics suffered three straight losses early in the season, including a rare home defeat. What was the spirit in the team like at that point?
"It was very low before we played Eiffeltowers, our first coach's last game. We all knew he was leaving, but he was very professional about it. He said, 'Guys, we're all professionals, we're all men, if we lose, we will deal with it, but there's no pressure. Just go out, be men and take it seriously.' He was calm and we went at there, had fun playing together and won by like 40 points. It was a great feeling. When the new coach came, he had a totally different philosophy, more defense than offense. Our practices were completely different: all defense, defense, defense. He gave us confidence by showing us how to play defense together, and now that's worth so much to us. Against CSKA in the Russian Cup semis, we lost by one at the buzzer. We feel we can play against anyone now with our defense. There's talent offensively in the whole lineup. But defense helped us turn this around."
You guys bounced back by demolishing Strasbourg and Jerusalem by a combined 90 points in back-to-back games. What clicked for such a big turnaround?
"Strasbourg, we had to beat them by 13 and ended up winning by 30. After the first game against Jerusalem, we needed to win by 39. Our coach said he had watched tapes and studied their team, and that we could beat these guys by 40. We were just hoping for a win and maybe to get lucky with Jerusalem losing a later game. It's hard thing going into a game saying you have to win by 40. We just try to win every possession, and the next thing you knew, we were up 10, 15, 25 points. It was like, 'What's going on?' It was like a dream. The whole crowd was crazy. It was like day and night between us and them. Any mistake they made, we just punished them, capitalized on every one: layups, dunks, three-pointers. It was like perfect. That's when we knew that working over the break wasn't too bad, after all."
You personally took charge in the Last 32 round with two huge games against Turk Telekom. Did anything inspire you when the elimination rounds began?
"It's just that time of the year. This is your chance to determine whether you win a championship. You never know when the next opportunity like this will come. There's no waiting til next year. It's now or never. And in big games, I feel I always have something to prove to myself, no matter the situation. I want to win. It's determination, and that's it."
Up next you face Akasvayu Girona in the Final Eight quarterfinals. What do you think you have to do to win?
"I've seen Marc Gasol, and he's good. I not only watched a few games, but played against him last summer. He's good down low, makes his moves, kicks out to the shooters. He's hard to stop, but he's the key to their team, and if we can control him, we can control them. If he's on, they can rebound, run, get turnovers, pressure us. We'll have to be ready for him."
 How do you prepare for the Final Eight knowing that to go all the way you must win three games in three days?
"You can't win three without winning the first one. So you put everything into that first game. Every game is a championship final now. After you win that first one, you will always find energy for the next day. As a pro player, you will always find that energy, so you can't think ahead or about what might happen after. You just put it all in the first one."
You led the ULEB Cup in rebounding for the second straight season, despite being the shortest guy in the top 10. What's your secret?
"There's no secret. Everything is determination. I try to play every possession of the game like it's the most important one, on defense especially. I try to be the first one back playing defense, trying to get the steal, make the block, get the board. I don't take any possessions off. On every one, I am trying to win the game. I want the ball on offense and I want to guard the guy with the ball on defense. I want to be everywhere on every play. Even on the bench, I am active. That's still my job is how I see it, doing as much as I can to help team win. Any aspect: making guys laugh in the locker room, passing a water bottle, whatever. I take pride learning, doing my job and having fun. Some people forget it's a game, or they think so much about business, they forget to have fun, too. If you watch me play, I'm always having fun: with refs, with fans, everything. Too often, players lose the fun of the game. I don't."
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