After a short break and a series of New Year's holidays, the teams gradually return to the rhythm of the game. MINSK will play the first match of 2024 away on January 7 against Uralmash. For more information, see the preview.
Roster
Since the first game against Uralmash, which took place on November 7 at the Minsk home ground, personnel changes have taken place in both teams. On December 15, the Ural club announced the appointment of Rostislav Vergun, who previously headed the coaching staff of our team, as head coach.
Next, the Uralmash press service announced that the American point guard Josh Perkins was leaving the club. Stanley Whittaker moved to his position from the Italian Dinamo Sassari. The 29-year-old basketball player averaged 7.8 points, 1.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 23 minutes on the floor in 10 matches of the current Serie A draw.
Season 2023/24
Now Uralmash is actively fighting for entry into the playoffs and is on the 8th line of the standings with 9 wins in 19 games since the beginning of the season. In the last five matches, the Yekaterinburg team met, among other things, with several teams leading the standings (Zenit, UNICS, Lokomotiv Kuban), without winning. However, in the last game of the year with a new coach, the team won the match against PARMA (81:75).
The best averages in Uralmash are demonstrated by Octavius Ellis (18.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 blocks in 28.3 minutes on the court) and Tyrell Nelson (11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 25.2 minutes on the floor). Moreover, Ellis' statistics are among the top League results for several indicators at the moment. Thus, Octavius is currently the fourth in the VTB United League in terms of scoring points per game, the second in terms of the number of blocked shots per match, and the center demonstrates the best performance in the League in terms of the number of rebounds per match.
MINSK defender Uladzislau Mikulski: “Uralmash enjoys excellent support from its fans at home. This is a well-equipped team that plays aggressive basketball. We expect a tough game with a lot of physical struggle.”
The roster of the opponent
Uralmash, Ekaterinburg
Guards
1.Anton Glazunov, 08.25.1986, 185 cm, Russia,
3. Stanley Whittaker, 10.21.1994, 183 cm, USA,
10. Kirill Pisklov, 09.22.1996, 192 cm, Russia,
11. Igor Novikov, 11.09.1992, 191 cm, Russia,
24. Garrett Nevels, 11.26.1992, 188 cm, USA.
Forwards
7. Ivan Pynko, 06.23.2000, 197 cm, Russia,
15. Javonte Douglas, 11.28.1992, 203 cm, USA,
17. Nikita Balashov, 06.19.1991, 208 cm, Russia,
25. Tyrell Nelson, 06.18.1995, 205 cm, USA,
34. Maxim Proschenko, 04.25.1997, 208 cm, Russia,
93. Alexander Zakharov, 06.12.1993, 203 cm, Russia.
The centers
2. Octavius Ellis, 03.10.1993, 208 cm, USA,
18. Kirill Mikheev, 04.27.1998, 213 cm, Russia.
The head coach is Rostislav Vergun, Belarus.
You can watch the live broadcast of the game on the official website of the VTB United League, as well as on the Belarus 5 and Belarus 5 Internet TV channels. The match starts at 15:00. We are rooting for MINSK!