On October 28, at the Sibur Arena, our men's team will play with the current champion of the VTB United League – Zenit. The meeting with an objectively strong opponent this season will be held for the first time. Read more about the St. Petersburg team in our preview.
History and achievements
The relatively young basketball club, established in 2014, already boasts an impressive list of achievements. In its first season, the team took 4th place in the VTB United League regular season, and in the quarterfinals, losing to PARI Nizhny Novgorod, took 5th place. Zenit is a four-time bronze medalist of the VTB United League (2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2020/21) and the Russian Championship of the same playing seasons, silver medalist of the 2015/16 Russian Cup and the 2021 VTB United League Super Cup.
The team announced itself loudly last season, taking all the significant trophies – the title of champions of the VTB United League and the Championship of Russia. Before the start of the new season, the team won the Kondrashin and Belov Cup, and in the 2022 League Super Cup, Zenit won a strong-willed victory in the final match with CSKA with an advantage of 1 point (71:70).
Off-season transfers
American defenders Billy Baron and Jordan Loyd, forwards Alex Poythress and Jordan Mickey, as well as centers Eric Buckner and Russian Anton Pushkov left the club's location. The club managed to retain many Russian players during the off-season: Sergey Karasev, Andrey Zubkov, Denis Zakharov, Dmitriy Kulagin and Vitalii Fridzon.
The St. Petersburg team strengthened the squad with American defenders Caleb Homesley (Hamburg, Germany), Joe Thomasson (Manressa, Spain), French point guard Thomas Heurtel and American forward Trey Thompkins (both Real Madrid).
Last week, the club announced the return of Sergei Monia to the team. Last season, the 39-year-old forward already played for the team, and helped the team become the League champion. Also, the Zenit squad was replenished with centers Artem Klimenko (UNICS, Kazan), Egor Ryzhov (Zenit-M, St. Petersburg) and forward Sergey Toropov (PARI NN, Nizhny Novgorod). It is also worth noting that the American forward Thomas Wimbush (Nanterre, France) and center Richard Solomon (Bakhcheshikhir, Turkey) are among the newcomers.
Head Coach
Xavier Pascual took over the coaching staff of the team in February 2020. Prior to that, he worked in the Spanish “Barcelona”, with which he became the youngest champion coach in the history of the Euroleague and a four-time champion of Spain; and the Greek “Panathinaikos”. Managing the latter, Javier won the Greek Championship twice.
In the 2020/2021 Zenit season under Pascual's leadership, he reached the Euroleague playoffs for the first time in history, and in the VTB United League he took 1st place in the regular season, winning 20 victories in 24 matches. At the end of the season, the Spanish specialist was recognized as the “Coach of the Year” of the VTB United League.
In the previous season, the coach also shared all the aforementioned achievements of the team and was recognized as the “Best Coach” of the 2022 Super Cup.
Season 2022/23
In the standings of the 2022/23 season, Zenit is in 3rd place, behind CSKA and UNICS. In the first home match of the season, the St. Petersburg team lost to Kazan with a score of 79:82. But she quickly rehabilitated herself, subsequently winning matches with PARMA-PARI (65:60), Avtodor (92:71), Enisey (89:61), and Samara (82:70).
As a result of 5 past matches, the team leaders are Caleb Homesley and Trey Thompkins. Both players spend more than 21 minutes on the court on average per game. Caleb's average stats are 12.2 points, 1.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists. Trey Thompkins also averages 12.2 points per game, while making 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
Zenit's pre-game roster (Saint Petersburg):
Guards:
3. Denis Zakharov (06.08.1993, 193 cm, Russia),
4. Andrey Toptunov (22.07.2002, 183 cm, Russia),
5. Caleb Homesley (27.11.1996, 198 cm, USA),
9. Dmitriy Kulagin (01.07.1992, 195 cm, Russia),
13. Thomas Heurtel (04/10/1989, 189 cm, France),
32. Joe Thomasson (16.08.1993, 193 cm, USA),
70. Vitalii Fridzon (14.10.1985, 195 cm, Russia).
Forwards:
7. Sergey Karasev (26.10.1993, 201 cm, Russia),
8. Igor Volkhin (30.10.1997, 199 cm, Russia),
10. Egor Ryzhov (28.08.2004, 194 cm, Russia),
20. Andrey Zubkov (29.06.1991, 205 cm, Russia),
21. Sergey Toropov (15.10.1989, 205 cm, Russia),
26. Thomas Wimbush (08.12.1993, 201 cm, USA),
33. Trey Thompkins (29.05.1990, 208 cm, USA),
64. Sergey Monia (15.04.1983, 202 cm, Russia).
Centers:
12. Artem Klimenko (10.01.1994, 214 cm, Russia),
23. Richard Solomon (06/18/1992, 208 cm, USA).
The head coach is Xavier Pascual (Spain).
The match will be broadcast on the VTB United League website and the Russian TV channel “Start Triumph". The match starts at 8:00 PM.