Tomorrow, on March 6, Tsmoki-Minsk meet with the Russian club UNICS – the leader of the VTB United League. The game will take place at the Basket Hall in Kazan and starts at 19:00.
The recommencement of the championship was preceded by a rather long pause, which included significant events. Firstly, it was the VTB United League All-Stars Game took place in Moscow. Four UNICS basketball players took part in it at once: Andrey Vorontsevich played for the Stars of Russia team; Mario Hezonja, John Brown and Isaiah Canaan played for the Stars of the World team. By the way, UNICS head coach Velimir Perasovic stood on captain’s bridge, and Kostas Kaymakoglu assisted him. The All-Stars Game MVP was Mario Hezonja with 29 points and 4 rebounds.
Kazan basketball players showed enviable activity in the All-Stars competitions. Vorontsevich tried to make his own luck in three-point contest, and the indefatigable Hezonja tried his hand at all in both contests. And if in the duel of snipers Mario lost in the finals to Billy Baron from Zenit, then in the dunk contest he won first place. Moreover, the final attempt of the Croat was the only one awarded the highest score of a captious jury.
It´s also worth mentioning that on the eve of the All-Stars Game, the VTB United League inducted five worthy players and coaches into the Hall of Fame, among them was former UNICS captain Kostas Kaymakoglu.
The second event was the break for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers. The Russian national team also included a representative of UNICS – guard Andrey Komolov. Moreover, he became the most useful among the Russians at home game against the Netherlands national team: 17pts. + 3reb. + 2ast. +1stl. Eff. – 15.
As for the VTB United League, the Dragons have already met with Kazan in championship: exactly three months ago they lost to UNOCS in Minsk 72:92.
As we know, later Tsmoki-Minsk fell into a period of the game’s postponement caused by the COVID-19, and remained without games for almost two months. After the meeting with the “greens”, the Minsk team played only three times: twice with the Enisey, exchanging victories with the Krasnoyarsk team, as well as with the St. Petersburg Zenit.
But at the same time, UNICS, which played on two fronts – in the VTB United League and the Euroleague – played 19 games in total over the same period – six times more! And UNICS played very well. So, in the VTB United League, the wards of Velimir Rerasovic celebrated success six times and lost only to Zenit. Accordingly, the Kazan team is confidently leading, having 13 wins and 2 defeats.
In the Euroleague, UNICS stayed in the playoff zone with 50% efficiency in 24 games, occupying the seventh position. However, the expanding military doings in Ukraine dramatically changed the situation. The Euroleague Executive Board of stockholders has decided to suspend the participation of Russian clubs: UNICS, CSKA and Zenit in the Euroleague and Lokomotiv-Kuban in the Eurocup for an indefinite period.
This disappointing decision forced the management of the Kazan club to take a hard step. Americans John and Lorenzo Brown, Isaiah Canaan, John Holland, Jarell Brantley and the Italian Marco Spissu were released from the team. Three legionnaires decided to stay in Kazan – Croatian Mario Hezonja, Nigerian Tonye Jekiri and American O.J. Mayo, Croatian head coach Velimir Perasovic is still preparing UNICS for the games.
However, the management of Tsmoki-Minsk also had to make unpleasant personnel decisions: foreign basketball players Angelo Warner, Jason Clark, and De’Quon Lake also left for their homeland.
For the match with the “dragons” UNICS is preparing in a limited team member, in which the coaching stuff intends to introduce leading young players from UNICS-2 filial team, playing in the youth championship of the VTB United League.
UNICS (KAZAN, RUSSIA)
GUARDS:
8. Vyacheslav Zaitcev (28.08.1989, 190cm)
32. O.J. Mayo (USA, 05.11.1987, 196cm)
44. Artem Komolov (01.06.1993, 194cm)
FORWARDS:
6. Georgiy Zhbanov (10.10.1997, 197cm)
11. Mario Hezonja (Croatia, 25.02.1995, 203cm)
13. Dmitry Uzinskii (13.07.1993, 200cm)
31. Evgeny Valiev (03.05.1990, 207cm)
33. Andrey Vorontsevich (17.07.1987, 207cm)
CENTERS:
12. Artem Klimenko (10.01.1994, 214cm)
23. Tonye Jekiri (23.07.1994, 213cm)
Head coach: Velimir Perasovic (Croatia)