VTB United League teams are returning to the floor after an almost three-week break. The first game of spring for MINSK will be held on March 3 in Saratov against Avtodor. For more information, see the preview.
Season 2023/24
Milenko Bogicevic's team completed the first stage of the regular season of the VTB United League on the 11th line of the standings. Saratov started the second stage with two victories over Runa (80:78) and Astana (82:65), retaining all chances of getting into the play-in. If Avtodor wins a couple of victories in the next matches, it will be able to compete with Uralmash for the second place in the standings in Group B.
The leaders of the opponent in terms of performance on average per game at the moment are Rayshon Hammonds (16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists in 27 games, spending 28.14 minutes on the court) and Malik Newman (16.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.1 steals in 28.11 minutes of play in 8 matches).
Meanwhile, there have been a number of line-up changes in MINSK. The club said goodbye to Aleksandar Zecevic and announced the return of two players familiar to fans from last season: center Zach Smith and forward Jovan Sljivancanin. However, due to a number of circumstances, newcomers will join the games a little later and will not be able to help the team in the duel against Avtodor.
Acting head coach of MINSK Aliaksei Sukhavetski: ”We are returning after a short break. At that time, we did a great job, although we were part-time: Jarred went to Canada for family reasons, Jacob was involved in the Slovenian national team. Those guys who were here did a great job. Now we are under stress, I hope that in the next week we will get in good physical shape. We are still going to the match with Avtodor in a truncated squad due to certain circumstances. But, since we have a double trip, Zach Smith and Grisha Motovilov should catch up for the second game, so we plan to be almost in the optimal squad in Kazakhstan, I am glad that the players will be in line. Regarding new signings, we have been working with Zach for a long time, and we are glad that everything turned out well. I hope that he is also inspired to return to MINSK. I am sure that both Zak and Jovan Shlivanchanin understand the requirements for themselves, they know that the club needs help at this difficult moment and will do their best. We will make every effort to become better as a team and we will approach the tasks set.”
The roster of the opponent
Avtodor, Saratov
Guards
0. Syndarius Thornwell, 11.15.1994, 196 cm, USA,
1. Vitalijus Pranauskis, 08.12.2002, 195 cm, Russia,
8. Matvey Popov, 01.25.2004, 194 cm, Russia,
14. Malik Newman, 02.21.1997, 190 cm, USA,
30. Dominik Mavra, 06.15.1994, 195 cm, Croatia,
77. Vitaly Fridzon, 14.10.1985, 195 cm, Russia.
Forwards
3. Dusan Beslac, 06.10.1998, 206 cm, Serbia,
7. Denis Naumov, 05.14.2003, 202 cm, Russia,
9. Alexander Petenev, 11.24.2000, 197 cm, Russia,
12. Andrey Fedorov, 08.19.2003, 200 cm, Russia,
15. Brandon Garrett, 30.08.1990, 206 cm, USA,
47. Yaroslav Pechenjian, 03.13.2004, 199 cm, Russia.
The centers
11. Dmitry Khaldeev, 03.04.1999, 210 cm, Russia,
13. Rayshon Hammonds, 11.10.1997, 206 cm, USA,
33. Marat Tsybikov, 07.18.2001, 215 cm, Russia.
The head coach is Milenko Bogicevic, Russia.
The match will start at 14:00 Belarusian time. The broadcast of the game will be available on the VTB United League website and Belarus 5 TV channel. Also, in the cafe of the Happy Day club at 3 Uralskaya str., at 14:00, a viewing of the match will be organized for everyone. According to the code phrase “I'm rooting for MINSK“ on the day of the game, the cafe provides a 10% discount on the general menu. Let's support the team together!