Victão hails Corinthians' Paulista campaign, eyes rest of season | OneFootball

Corinthians ended their 2026 Paulista Basketball Championship campaign among the top four teams. After being eliminated by Mogi in the semifinal, Victão lamented the result but highlighted the team’s progress in recent competitions and looked ahead to the rest of the season, with the South American League as the next challenge for Jece Leite’s squad.

The team’s farewell to the state tournament came last Friday (25) at Wlamir Marques Gymnasium. Corinthians were beaten by Mogi 70-68 in the third semifinal matchup and lost the best-of-five series 3-0. Before that, the opposing team had won the first two games 94-63 and 94-85.

Photo: Beto Miller / Corinthians

Right after the elimination, Victão acknowledged how difficult it is to assess the campaign without taking the frustration of the result into account. The No. 10, however, stressed that Corinthians’ place in the semifinal represents progress compared to recent appearances and also mentioned the team’s performances in other competitions.

“It’s always hard to speak after the game. At the end of the day, individual performances don’t matter without the win. It’s a reason to be proud; we finished third. Other times, we didn’t get past the first round. The important thing is to keep this in mind: we’re improving in the NBB, Paulista, South American League, always competing among the top four. We played against one of the best teams and one of the biggest investments. The first game was unusual, and the other two were wide open. It slipped through our fingers, but now we have to keep working and improving because there are still things ahead of us,” he said.

Victão points out what was missing in the last game

After two losses at the start of the series, Corinthians entered the third matchup needing a win to stay alive in the state tournament. This time, the gap between the teams was minimal, and the game remained open until the final moments.

Timão even built a lead during the game but could not hold on to it and ended up losing by two points. Analyzing the performance, Victão pointed to a lack of maturity in managing the result and also mentioned offensive and defensive aspects that could have been executed better.

“We lacked the maturity to close out the game, to make a few shots fall, and to execute better. We could also have been stronger on defense. We left everything on the court and, in that regard, I’m at peace,” he assessed.

The elimination ended Corinthians’ Paulista campaign after the club had advanced through the quarterfinals against Pinheiros. In that round, Corinthians lost the first game 87-79 but responded with wins of 96-91 and 82-65 to close the series 2-1 and secure a place among the semifinalists.

Corinthians shift their focus to the South American League

With no more commitments in the state tournament, Corinthians now turn their preparation toward the South American Basketball League. The team is in Group B, whose games will be played from October 9 to 11 in Loja, Ecuador.

Besides Timão, the group includes hosts Jorge Guzmán, Nacional of Uruguay, and Regatas Corrientes of Argentina. The top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals of the continental competition.

For Victão, the Paulista campaign also served to identify the team’s strengths and the areas that still need adjustment before the new challenge.

“Keep moving forward, aim for a higher place. (The South American League) is a tough tournament; we understand the level. Paulista helped us see what we have that’s good and what we don’t have so we can work on it. We need to work with our quality, think game by game, and get through this first stage. Everything happens very quickly there; we need to take care of the details and stay alert to everything,” Victão projected.

Three games in three days in Ecuador

Corinthians’ debut in the South American League will take place on October 9 at 10:10 p.m. (Brasília time) against Jorge Guzmán. The following day, the opponent will be Nacional, with the game scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Corinthians’ participation in the first phase will end on October 11, also at 7:10 p.m., against Regatas Corrientes.

The stretch will require three games in three days and, as Victão pointed out, will leave little room for error. After finishing among the top four in the Paulista Championship, Corinthians will look to turn the progress highlighted by the No. 10 into qualification for the continental knockout stage.

Corinthians’ next games:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.