The third day and the SuperCup 2024 group stage has come to an end. VTB area hosted 2 games on Friday. Here are the key events.
Zvezda knocked Loko out from Top 3
Lokomotiv Kuban had no chance of advancing to the main game and repeating last year’s success, but wanted to fight for third place. To do that, the team needed to win against the Serbian team. Craven Zvezda had an identical situation.
The game was equal until the middle of the third quarter. The turning point was the forced substitution of Patrick Miller, who had 4 fouls and risked to end the game early.
Without the starting guard, Lokomotiv lost their usual offensive rhythm and missed a crucial moment. This stretch also was a debut of 20-year-old Mikhail Vedischev, who got 3 fouls in 3 minutes. The quote “whoever wins the third quarter wins the game” was very appropriate in this context.
Both teams had poor three-point shooting – 5/20 (25%).
In the last quarter of the game, Crvena Zvezda held a comfortable lead and got a win – 86:76.
As in the game against CSKA, the Crvena best player was recent Olympic bronze medalist Uros Plavsic (16 points, 10 rebounds, 29 eff. points), supported by another Olympics medalist Ognjen Dobric (20 points, 8 rebounds, 8/14 from the game).
Zoran Lukic in Moscow
The Russian national team head coach Zoran Lukic became one of the SuperCup guests. The Serbian specialist, among other things, is screening candidates for the national team at the tournament in Moscow.
Loko defensive problems
Andrey Vedischev said after the game against CSKA, in which Loko let opponents score 105 points, that the team’s defensive objectives were not met. By the game against Crvena Zvezda, the Krasnodar team planned to change the situation.
On Friday, Loko again allowed the opponent to score point and missed 191 points in 2 games and the most fouled (61) SuperCup team.
Let’s see what adjustments will be made by the Loko coaching staff ahead of the match against Besiktas.
Trend
In the last two SuperCups, at least one foreign team played in the 3rd place game. This time, history is repeating: Crvena Zvezda will compete with UNICS for bronze.
UNICS defeated Zenit and reached the SuperCup final for the first time in history
UNICS and Zenit are rivals. The teams have already played during this preseason – a week ago in the Kondrashin and Belov Cup final, Zenit won – 63:50.
The SuperCup 2024 game had a different scenario. Not least because UNICS’ new star DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell was in the roster this time and showed the kind of aggression he’s prized for: 24 points and 5 rebounds.
The teams showed great basketball for the entire 40 minutes – the outcome of the key Group B game was decided in the end. Marcos Knight and Dmitriy Kulagin led the team with decisive three-pointers.
Zenit lost its chance to defend the title and will play for the 3rd place (and got first loss of the preseason), while UNICS advanced to its first final – 78:72.
Old-new friends
In the game between UNICS and Zenit, many players played against the former teams: Andrey Vorontsevich (2021-23, 2024), Georgiy Zhbanov (2020-23) and Vince Hunter (2022-23) played for UNICS, while Dmitriy Kulagin (2021-23), Sergey Toropov (2022-24) and Jalen Reynolds (2018-2019) previously represented Zenit.
Zenit loses its captain
In the first quarter, when Omari Spellman was coming off the screen, Sergey Karasev ran into Marcos Knight, who was guarding him, and fell unfortunate on his left hand.
The injury will be clear after an MRI exam. Xavier Pascual team is in danger of losing one of its key players for a long time.
Quote
Zenit chairman Aleksandr Medvedev has assessed the fitness of newcomer Omari Spellman:
– It seemed that Spellman is a bit overweight.
– You didn’t see him when he came here. Even wanted to give him the nickname “chubby,” but that doesn’t apply to him now. He gains weight for now.
By the way, Omari had decent performance on Friday – 10 points (4/7 from the game) and 6 rebounds in 30 minutes.
Top Plays
The SuperCup 2024 Day 3 results
Lokomotiv Kuban vs Craven Zvezda – 76:86 (16:23, 27:22, 16:20, 17:21)
Lokomotiv Kuban: B.J. Johnson (19), Miller (17 + 7 assists), Cleveland (11), Kvitkovskiy (10 + 7 rebounds).
Crvena Zvezda: Dobric (20 + 8 rebounds), Plavsic (16 + 10 rebounds), Miller-McIntyre (11 + 5 rebounds).
UNICS vs. Zenit – 78:74 (18:26, 30:20, 14:8, 16:18)
UNICS: DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (24 + 5 rebounds), Knight (12 + 6 assists + 5 rebounds), Reynolds (10 points + 9 rebounds).
Zenit: Moon (21), Poythress (11 + 7 rebounds), Spellman (10 + 6 rebounds), Bacon (10).
Standings
Group A
CSKA – 2-0, Crvena Zvezda – 1-1, Lokomotiv Kuban – 0-2.
Group B
UNICS – 2-0, Zenit – 1-1, Besiktas – 0-2.
Day 4 Schedule
13:00 Lokomotiv Kuban vs Besiktas (5th place)
16:00 Crvena Zvezda vs Zenit (3rd place)
19:00 CSKA vs UNICS (Final).
