On November 20, at the Minsk Arena, our men's team will play with Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar for the first time in the 2022/23 season. After a difficult game on the road and the 9th defeat in a row, Minsk residents are preparing with renewed vigor for the upcoming match with two newcomers in the squad.
History and achievements
In the 1994/1995 season, Lokomotiv took 3rd place in the South division. In 1997, the club debuted in the Super League, eventually finishing the championship in 6th place.
In national tournaments, Lokomotiv-Kuban twice won the Cup of Russia (2000, 2018) and the silver medalist of the 2013/14 season. The team achieved the best result in the VTB United League in the 2012/13 season, then in the final Loko lost to CSKA and took second place. Krasnodar residents became bronze medalists of the Russian Championship four times.
In the European competitions ”Lokomotiv-Kuban" in the 2012/13 season became the owners of the European Cup, in the 2015/16 season they won bronze medals of the Euroleague. The team became the silver medalist of the FIBA Challenge Cup (2010/11), the FIBA Europe Cup (2004/05) and the Eurocup (2017/18).
Offseason
After the 4th place in the 2021/22 season of the VTB United League, the team, like the rest of the clubs, updated the roster over the summer.
Forward Dmitrii Uzinskii moved from UNICS to Lokomotiv, Anton Kvitkovskikh moved from Avtodor Saratov to Krasnodar, and American forward Darral Willis moved from Enisey.
The club managed to retain American point guard Jaylen Barford and Serbian forward Ivan Paunic.
Alexandr Shcherbenev, Andrei Martiuk, Kirill Elatontsev, Sergey Dolinin, Vladislav Emchenko, Zakhar Vedishchev and Egor Sychkov have gained a foothold in the ranks of Krasnodar residents.
Head Coach
In the summer of 2022, Loko announced the appointment of Slovenian specialist Aleksander Sekulic as head coach. He started his coaching career in 1996 in the Slovan youth system. He worked as an assistant and head coach in various Slovenian clubs.
As head coach, Krki won the championship and won the Slovenian Super Cup in the 2012-13 season. Since 2017, Sekulic has worked as an assistant and then head coach at the Czech "Nymburk". In the 2021/22 season, Nimburk won the title of champion of the Czech Republic under his leadership. In 2020, Sekulic led the Slovenian national team.
Season 2022/23
Last week, not only Minsk residents pleased their fans with the news about the signings. On November 9, American point guard Joshua Gray, who started his career in the NBA club, became a newcomer to Lokomotiv-Kuban.“Portland Trail Blazers.” Gray was also involved in matches for the US national team.
Now Loko is on the 6th line of the VTB United League standings. Just four days before the match with MINSK, the opponent from Krasnodar staged a real thriller with the current champion. Ahead of Zenit in the first two quarters, Lokomotiv-Kuban scored only 5 points in the third quarter, which is why they conceded victory at the end of the match. Although, up to the last minute, the outcome of the game was unpredictable. In total, Krasnodar residents have an equal number of victories and defeats. The team won matches with Samara (79:70), PARMA-PARI (92:85), Astana (73:53), Enisey (71:69) and Avtodor – in a duel with the latter, our opponent got the first hundred of the season (100:84). Lost to Lokomotiv-Kuban in matches with MBA (73:86), CSKA (64:84), UNICS (75:83), Pari NN (93:79) and Zenit (62:68).
The leader in scoring Krasnodar is Jaylen Barford. On average, the defender scores 18.5 points per game, makes 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals.
MINSK defender Kiryl Sitnik on the upcoming match:
– First of all, I want to thank our fans for believing in us and supporting us! On November 20, we play at home, we are waiting for everyone at the Minsk Arena. New players have appeared in the MINSK squad, who have already joined the team well. We will fight and try to take the victory from Lokomotiv-Kuban!
The roster of “Lokomotiv-Kuban" (Krasnodar)
Guards:
0. Jaylen Barford (23.01.1996, 191 cm, USA),
1. Alexandr Shcherbenev (03.10.2000, 191 cm, Russia),
31. Ivan Paunic (27.01.1987, 194 cm, Serbia),
33. Zakhar Vedishchev (09.07.2000, 196 cm, Russia),
35. Vladislav Emchenko (03.10.1999, 194 cm, Russia).
Forwards:
9. Andrei Martiuk (10.06.2000, 211 cm, Russia),
13. Dmitrii Uzinskii (13.07.1993, 199 cm, Russia),
16. Anton Kvitkovskikh (03.11.2000, 202 cm, Russia),
21. Darral Willis (21.06.1996, 206 cm, USA),
23. Sergey Dolinin (02/16/2000, 205 cm, Russia),
24. Ilya Sorokin (29.07.2001, 208 cm, Russia),
34. Egor Sychkov (19.09.2001, 208 cm, Russia).
Center:
12. Kirill Elatontsev (12.07.2002, 210 cm, Russia).
The head coach is Alexander Sekulic (Slovenia).
Entrance to the arena on November 20 will be from 13:30. Tickets for the game can be purchased online or at KVITKI points of sale.by, as well as in the main hall of the arena an hour and a half before the start of the match. We are rooting for MINSK!