The second game of the season in the VTB United League "Tsmoki-Minsk" will take place in Krasnodar, where Tsmoki face local “Lokomotiv-Kuban”. The game will be held on October 2 in the "Basket Hall" and will start at 16.00 Belarusian time.
“Lokomotiv-Kuban” has been writing its history since the post-war 1946. However, the club was founded in the city of Mineralnye Vody, there, the club was located until 2003, then it was moved to Rostov-on-Don. Finally, the last relocation, to Krasnodar, took place in 2009. At the same time, the team received its current name "Lokomotiv-Kuban".
On the international scene “Railwaymen” began to play in the season 2004/05 and reached the finals of the FIBA Europe Cup. In 2011, the Club reached the final of Euro Challenge. The season 2012/2013 at last they finish with international triumph as they won the Euro Cup. Three years later, “Lokomotiv-Kuban” received a wildcard to play in the Euroleague and seized the opportunity in style. Under Georgios Bartzokas, the team made it to the “Final Four”, losing to CSKA in the semifinals and defeating Spain's Saski “Baskonia” in the game for third place. Once again, the Krasnodar team was one step away from winning the Europe Cup in 2018. In the last Eurocup game, "Loko” had a solid run to the playoffs, but in the quarterfinals stumbled in a duel with UNICS Kazan — 1:2.
As a fact, the Krasnodar’s club has faced Kazan more often than any other team in recent seasons. In last year's VTB United League, “Loko” took a high second place in the regular season, but lost to UNICS in the semifinals — 0:3. “The Red and Green's” most successful performance in the VTB United League was in the 2012/13 season, when they won the silver medal. “Loko” also has two bronze medals in the Russian Championship (2012, 2015).
Meetings with Kazan, which were quite active, continued this September. In the VTB United League Super Cup, the teams met in the game for the bronze: “Loko” lost by a score of 70:84.
The calendar brought them together in the opening game of the VTB United League. The game in Kazan had a tremendous storyline. In the first quarter, “Loko” outscored the home team, 35:19. Indeed, all 35 points been scored by 3 players- Kidd, Motley and Thompson. Krasnodar lead by in the first half, but they lost their comfortable lead in the second half and allowed UNICS to complete come back and take 87:96.
The head coach of “Lokomotiv”, 52-year-old Evgeniy Pashutin, took the team in 2019. That his second time as a head coach of Loko, first experience was in the period from 2012 to 2014. He characterizes the today’s Loko composition a fusion of youth and experience. “Lokomotiv” really compares favorably with other clubs in that it provides extensive playing practice to homegrown players. In the last championship, Andrey Martyuk, Sergey Dolinin, Vladislav Demchenko, Valery Kalinov “smelled gunpowder”. Now the cohort of young and promising has been joined by Zakhar Vedishchev (the son of the club's CEO Andrey Vedishchev), who returned from the USA, where he played in the NCAA for the University of Utah, as well as Alexander Shcherbenev and Kirill Elatontsev.
However, the leading role in “Loko's” game is played by legionnaires. In the summer, five foreigners left the club for different reasons: Lithuanians Mantas Kalnietis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, Americans Will Cummings, Kevin Hervey and Nigel Williams-Goss. The spots were filled by Americans: guards Errick McCollum (came from “Khimki”), Darius Thompson (“Brindisi”, Italy), forwards Greg Whittington (“Denver Nuggets”, NBA), Stanton Kidd (“Hapoel-Jerusalem” B.C., Israel), Jonathan Motley (“Elefants”, South Korea). Serbian guard Ivan Paunic also returned to the team. The club is also looking forward to seeing powerful center Alan Williams and team captain Stanislav Ilnitsky return from injured list.
McCollum is the most recognized scorer among new commers. In his three years in the VTB United League with UNICS and “Khimki”, Errick averaged 15.6 points per game. He demonstrated his talent in the recent Super Bowl and was inducted into the symbolic team of the tournament. “Tsmoki-Minsk” and “Lokomotiv-Kuban” have met 18 times in the VTB United League (in the 2013/14 season, the teams played in different groups, so they did not cross paths).
The game will be broadcast online on the website of the VTB United League and “Belarus 5” Internet, television will begin broadcasting at 17:20.
Composition of “Lokomotiv-Kuban”:
Defenders:
1. Alexander Shcherbenev (born in 2000, 187 cm)
3. Errick McCollum (USA, 1988, 188 cm)
13. Darius Thompson (USA, 1995, 192 cm)
31. Ivan Paunic (Serbia, 1987, 194 cm)
33. Zakhar Vedischev (2000, 196 cm)
35. Vladislav Emchenko (1999, 194 cm)
Forwards:
2. Greg Whittington (USA, 1993, 203 cm)
6. Jonathan Motley (USA, 1995, 206 cm)
7. Stanton Kidd (USA, 1992, 200 cm)
11. Stanislav Ilnitsky (1994, 202 cm)
23. Sergey Dolinin (2000, 204 cm)
25. Andrei Martiuk (2000, 211 cm)
69. Kirill Parilov (2002, 198 cm)
Center players:
12. Kirill Elatontsev (2002, 207 cm)
15. Alan Williams (USA, 1993, 203 cm)
18. Valery Kalinov (1999, 212 cm).
Evgeniy Pashutin is the head coach (1969).