Krasnoyarsk, Moscow and Krasnodar will host 3 regular season games on Saturday.
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk Region) vs Uralmash (Yekaterinburg)
Time: 16:00 (12:00. Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Arena Sever
Broadcast: VK Video, VTB League website
Enisey: The Krasnoyarsk team started with 5 losses, although has already played 3 Top 4 teams and came very close to success a couple of times. Enisey has high hopes for the game against Uralmash, which has been unstable at the start of the season. One of the Siberian team advantages is last road game took place on October 9 and has been in home city for a long time without any long flights. At the moment, Krasnoyarsk team is averaging 68.4 points per game, the worst in the League.
Uralmash: One of the most ambitious teams in the League has a negative record (2-3) after 5 games. This is largely due to injuries. In the last game against Zenit, Tyrell Nelson and Yauheni Beliankou did not play, but Octavius Ellis made his debut (so far, 6 points and 3 rebounds in 11.5 minutes). Even the absence of a center did not prevent the team from entering the Top 3 in rebounds (36.8). The future opponent is second from the bottom in this stat (33.8).
CSKA (Moscow) vs UNICS (Kazan)
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadcast: VK Video, VTB League website
CSKA: The Moscow team retained its core players and looked strong in the preseason, but was unable to maintain that momentum. On Wednesday, the reigning champion unexpectedly lost at home in the in-season tournament to Mega, whose players have an average age of 20. CSKA missed three-point 34 shots, gave up a 2:16 run in the fourth quarter and made unusual mistakes (“as if we were 19 years old,” as Andreas Pistiolis said after the game). The Moscow team will certainly try to make up for this lack of focus in WINLINE Game of the Week against one of the main rivals.
UNICS: Losses to CSKA in the Playoffs of the last 2 seasons have contributed to a rebuild of the Kazan team, with Marcus Bingham, C.J. Bryce, Paris Lee and DeShawn Pierre, while only Jalen Reynolds remains from the previous roster of foreign players in the capital of Tatarstan. So far, the renewed UNICS is on track for a club record start of the season (8-0) with 6 wins, which was ended by CSKA in Moscow in 2022. A win over the rival would be a beautiful confirmation of the correctness of the new course chosen. The participation of Dyshawn Pierre and Denis Zakharov in the game is questionnable.
Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar) vs. Samara (Samara Region)
Time: 16:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Krasnodar, Basket Hall
Broadcast: VK Video, VTB League website
Lokomotiv Kuban: The team already has 3 losses in 6 games of the new season (including in-season Cup). But that doesn’t mean that head coach Anton Yudin’s job is in trouble. The Krasnodar team, which underwent significant changes during the offseason, is currently playing without Jeremiah Martin and Kirill Elatontsev, intends to strengthen its roster and is still establishing connections and looking for chemistry. The game against Samara could be a good test for this difficult process.
Samara: Samara has not won on the road in the VTB League since November last year, when the team defeated Astana. After the game in Perm, Samara has a 16-game losing streak on the road. In the new season, the Volga team is currently 0-6 in the standings. So far, the team’s fans have only been able to enjoy the individual performances. Dmitry Cheburkin scored 27 points versus BETCITY PARMA and set career-high. Nikita Mikhailovskii has achieved this twice before.
