After the match against UNICS, which took place on Monday, our men's team continues to work in an active mode and will play Samara again on October 19 at the home Falcon Club Arena. Read more in the preview.
Off-season transfers
The rookies of last season failed to make the playoffs last year and significantly changed the roster over the summer. Only Russian players Yurii Umrikhin and Nikita Zverev remained in the Samara team. At the same time, head coach Sergey Bazarevich left the club, Anton Kardanakhishvili (CSKA, end of lease), Maksim Barashkov (MBA), Vladimir Ivlev (Pari Nizhny Novgorod), Maksim Sheleketo (Temp-SUMZ), Vladimir Pichkurov (Khimki), Jordan Theodore (Levallois), as well as KC Rivers and James Ennis.
The club appointed Drazen Anzulovic, who headed Enisey last season, to the post of head coach. The former wards of the Croatian coach from the Krasnoyarsk team, Alexandr Gudumak, Ivan Viktorov and James Thompson, were also invited to the new Samara squad. Ilya Platonov moved from the MBA to Samara. Also, the roster was replenished by League players already familiar to many, Justin Roberson (PARMA), Rade Zagorats (Avtodor), Mikhail Kulagin and Alexander Razumov (UNICS).
The club also announced the signing of Dalton Hayden (Hapoel Holon, Israel) and Javontay Hawkins. Hawkins is the winner of the FIBA Champions League 2023, as well as the silver medalist of the Bundesliga. He played last season for Basket Bonn.
Start of the season
Samara has already managed to hold 4 matches, having won 2 confident victories. Now Drazen Anzulovic's team is kept in the TOP 5 teams of the standings. The Volga team showed a bright start by beating Enisey on the home court with a score of 83:63. Also, Drazen Anzulovic's wards defeated IBA with a score of 77:65 on the road last Saturday. Zenit (76:84) and the newcomers of the season – Runa were stronger in two meetings against Samara (74:85).
According to the results of the first games, the leader of the opponent is Justin Robinson with average statistics of 15.3 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals.
The center of “MINSK” Vadzim Stubeda: “The match with Samara is ahead. Of course, it's hard to play three games in a week. Our coaching staff calculated the load. We will do everything to go out on Thursday and play 100%. The guys are loaded and ready to fight!”
The roster of the opponent
Samara (Samara, Russia)
Guards
4. Nikola Rebic, 22.01.1995, 188 cm, Serbia,
10. Ivan Viktorov, 01.11.1995, 196 cm, Russia,
13. Javonteh Hawkins, 13.11.1993, 196 cm, USA,
23. Mikhail Kulagin, 04.08.1994, 191 cm, Russia,
32. Yuri Umrikhin, 28.06.1999, 190 cm, Russia,
86. Justin Roberson, 08.07.1993, 185 cm, USA.
Forwards
6. Alexandr Gudumak, 03.07.1993, 203 cm, Russia,
8. Alexandr Razumov, 22.04.1992, 204 cm, Russia,
9. Ilya Platonov, 31.07.1998, 199 cm, Russia,
20. Hayden Dalton , 20.06.1996, 206 cm, USA,
25. Rade Zagorac, 12.08.1995, 206 cm, Serbia,
81. Egor Amosov, 23.01.2008, 201 cm, Russia.
Centers
3. Nikita Zverev, 06.04.1994, 210 cm, Russia,
7. James Thompson, 18.01.1995, 208 cm, USA.
The head coach is Drazen Anzulovic (Croatia).
The game will take place on October 19 at Falcon Club Arena at 19:00. Tickets are available on the website and at points of sale kvitki.by , as well as at the box office of the arena on the match day from 17:30. The live broadcast of the game will be available on the website of the VTB United League and Belarus 5 Internet. The recording of the match will be available on the Belarus 5 TV channel at 21:50.