On December 9, at 20:00, MINSK will play the undisputed leader of the VTB United League championship, CSKA Moscow, on the home court. The fact that our team is still playing without two foreign players – Zach Smith, and Ognjen Pantovic, who has not yet made his debut, also testifies to the difficult confrontation for Minsk residents. While CSKA with a fighting squad resolutely holds all the matches of the season. Read more about the opponent in the preview.
Season 2022/23
The last time the teams met was on October 8 in Moscow. Then the Red Army won with a score of 107:63. Since then, Muscovites have never lost, having played at least once with each team of the tournament. At the previous match against UNICS, CSKA set a club record for the number of wins at the start of the season. The 14th victory in a row helped the team to update its record set in the 2018/19 season (then the Red Army won 13 matches in a row, but lost to Zenit in the 14th meeting).
CSKA players regularly get into the symbolic top five of the VTB United League round and are the undisputed leaders in the main indicators. The average age of the team is almost 29 years old, the average height is 199 cm.
The leader in scoring in Emil Raikovic's team is Alexey Shved, the average player statistics: 16.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.1 steals. With rebounds, Nikola Milutinov demonstrates the best indicator in CSKA – 9.0, and the Serbian center also averages 15.4 points per game and makes 1.5 assists.
However, Rostislav Vergun's wards are also setting up for a productive duel. So, in the previous game, Serbian defender Jovan Shlivanchanin successfully debuted, who managed to score 18 points in his first VTB United League match against Paris NN. Supreme Shakur Hannah continues to please the fans with the performance, the captain of the team also returned to the ranks after an indisposition.
Captain of “MINSK" Aliaksei Trastsinetski:
— There are newcomers in our team who made their debuts in recent matches. These are young guys, they have something to prove. Of course, we still need a little time for a better understanding. I hope that on Friday we will be able to surprise the opponent and approach the game in optimal shape.
Pre-match roster of CSKA (Moscow)
Guards:
2. Casper Ware (17.11.1999, 178 cm, USA),
3. Vladimir Karpenko (07.09.2000, 192 cm, Russia),
4. Artem Komolov (01.06.1993, 193 cm, Russia),
7. Ivan Ukhov (11.09.1995, 193 cm, Russia),
24. Dallas Moore (27.10.1994, 185 cm, Albania/USA),
91. Alexey Shved (16.12.1988, 198 cm, Russia).
Forwards:
8. Anton Astapkovich (29.01.1994, 202 cm, Russia),
10. Samson Ruzhentsev (23.10.2001, 201 cm, Russia),
11. Semyon Antonov (18.07.1989, 202 cm, Russia),
14. Deyan Davidovac (17.01.1995, 202 cm, Serbia),
41. Nikita Kurbanov (05.10.1986, 202 cm, Russia),
17. Livio Jean-Charles (08.11.1993, 206 cm, France).
Centers:
5. Andrey Desyatnikov (04.05.1994, 220 cm, Russia),
33. Nikola Milutinov (30.12.1994, 213 cm, Serbia).
Head coach – Emil Rajkovic
You will be able to watch the match live on the Belarus 5 TV channel and the VTB United League website. Tickets for the game can be purchased on the website and at points of sale KVITKI.by . Let's support MINSK!
Photo: VTB United League