Tomorrow, “Tsmoki-Minsk” will host the final home match of the regular stage of the VTB United League against “Nizhny Novgorod”. The meeting will take place at the Minsk Arena, starting at 7 PM.
During its history, the team of the same name from Nizhny Novgorod has the following achievements — finalists of the Russian Cup (2011, 2018, 2019), silver medalists of the VTB United League (2014), silver medalists of the Russian Championship (2014), semi-finalists of the European Cup (2014) and participants of the Euroleague top 16 (2015).
During this season, changes took place in “Nizhny Novgorod” — the team said goodbye to Serbian Nikola Jovanovic and Latvian forward Roland Freimanis, and forward Egor Sytnikov joined the youth squad of CSKA. Pavel Antipov and Dmitry Khvostov returned to the “black and white” team, and Mikhail Kulagin, who became one of the key players of the team, arrived from Krasnoyarsk. A week ago it became known that the “Nizhny Novgorod” team signed a contract with the forward of "NN-2" Daniil Alekseev, who this season showed average statistics of 13.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals.
The “Dragons“ met with “Nizhny Novgorod” in November, then the match ended in favor of the opponents – 72:65. In the last match, the Belarusian-born Anton Astapkovich, who brought 20 points to the Russian team, and Sergey Toropov, who scored 17 points, showed themselves most vividly.
For more than 10 years, the coaching bridge of Nizhny Novgorod has been headed by Serbian specialist Zoran Lukic. However, due to poor health, his assistant Sergey Kozin replaces him for the next matches. He began his coaching career in 2013, when he was included in the staff of BC “Nizhny Novgorod” as a scout coach. In 2017, in a similar position, he was included in the coaching staff of the student national team of Russia. In November 2021 Sergey Kozin joined the coaching staff of the Russian national team, which is headed by Zoran Lukich. As an assistant to the Serbian coach, he took part in the “All-Star Match” of the VTB United League in February of this year.
Sergey Kozin adequately copes with the duties assigned to him – the Russians will come to Minsk inspired by the victory after Sunday's match with “Astana”, where they interrupted a series of defeats in 2022, and beat their rivals with a score of 69:49. Now "NN” is on the 7th place of the standings.
Nizhny Novgorod is preparing for a meeting with Minsk residents in the following composition:
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia:
Guards:
4. Anton Kardanakhishvili 19.03.2002, 195 cm,
13. Dmitry Khvostov 21.08.1989, 190 cm,
19. Ivan Strebkov 27.07.1991 190 cm,
30. Mikhail Kulagin, 04.08.1994, 191 cm,
44. Evgeny Baburin, 04.07.1987, 190
Forwards:
5. Alexander Gankevich 05.08.1995, 201 cm,
8. Anton Astapkovich, 29.01.1994, 202 cm,
9. Ilya Platonov 31.07.1998, 201 cm ,
10. Alexander Chadov 20.11.2001, 203 cm,
12. Daniil Alekseev, 17.04.2002, 198 cm,
21. Sergey Toropov 15.10.1989, 206 cm,
22. Pavel Antipov 19.09.1991, 203 cm,
Acting Head Coach — Sergey Kozin (21.03, 1984).