On October 8, the men's team will play in the first away match of the season against Enisey. The Krasnoyarsk Territory team has already played two matches on the road and for the first time will hold a match with the support of its fans in the home arena. About the changes in the composition and coaching staff of the opponent, as well as the results of the first games in our preview.
Offseason
As in all clubs of the League, the composition of Enisey has changed, and significantly: the head coach Drazen Anzulovic left the club, also guards Timofey Gerasimov, Angelo Warner, Supreme Hannah, Orlando Coleman, Ivan Viktorov left the club, and Grigorii Motovilov joined the ranks of our team. Enisey also said goodbye to forwards Alexander Gudumak, Alexey Babushkin, Vladislav Trushkin and center James Thompson.
The Belarusian forward and ex-MINSK player Yauhenii Beliankou, forward Sergey Dolinin and center Sergey Balashov remained in the Krasnoyarsk team. Center Roman Zagretdinov returned from the lease, a new agreement was signed with forward Dmitry Sonko.
Several young Russian players have joined the ranks of Enisey. Defender Pavel Lobarev spent last season in the Super League-1, where he was the leader of the Irkut team. Point guard Vladimir Karpenko joined the club on loan from CSKA. Another newcomer, point guard Andrey Toptunov, played 11 matches with Zenit last season.
Updated the Enisey and the composition of the legionnaires. Thus, the team was joined by point guard Jeremiah Martin (Slask, Poland), defender Xavier Rathan (Merkezefendi, Turkey), forwards Mikael Hopkins (Reggio Emilia, Italy) and Beau Beech (FMP, Serbia).
Head Coach
Serbian specialist Jovica Arsic replaced Drazen Anzulovic as head coach, who moved to the Samara club. Previously, Jovica worked with the teams of Serbia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania. The last job of the coach was the Bulgarian basketball club “Balkan”, which he headed for two seasons (2019-2021). Arsic became the Bulgarian champion three times with the Lukoil-Akademik team (2010, 2011, 2015) and won the National Cup once (2011). From 2007 to 2009, he led the Macedonian national team and led the team to Eurobasket 2009, the second time in the country's history. Prior to that, in 2001, as an assistant coach of the Yugoslav national team, he became a gold medalist at the European Championship, which was held in Turkey. In 2021, he worked with the Serbian national team.
Start of the 2023/24 season
The Krasnoyarsk team played the first match of the new season against Samara and its previous coach Drazen Anzulovic. The score at the end of the meeting was 83:63 in favor of the Samara team. Leaders in the composition Enisey were performed by legionnaires Xavier Rathen-Mayes (22 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) and Jeremiah Martin (20 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals), while many predict stable consolidation in the League highlights during the season for the two above-mentioned players.
In the second match against CSKA, the Krasnoyarsk Territory team, despite the defeat, showed character and made a bright breakthrough in the final quarter, making almost twice as many accurate shots (the final score is 64:73).
The upcoming game with MINSK will be the first home game for Krasnoyarsk, and clearly the squad of Jovica Arsic will want to please their fans in the arena with a victory.
Forward of MINSK Jakob Cebasek: “We are heading to the game with Enisey to win our 1st victory in the new season of the VTB United League. I think we have a good chance. Our goal is to fight for all 40 minutes and focus on what the coaching staff prepared us for. So far, I feel really good in Minsk with the team, and I think that every week we are getting stronger and stronger”.
The roster of the opponent
Enisey (Krasnoyarsk Territory)
Guards
3. Jeremiah Martin, 06.19.1996, 188 cm, USA,
4. Andrey Toptunov, 22.07.2002, 183 cm, Russia,
7. Vladimir Karpenko, 07.09.2000, 192 cm, Russia,
8. Xavier Rathan-Mayes, 04.29.1994, 193 cm, Canada,
10. Pavel Lobarev, 05.10.1997, 190 cm, Russia,
13. Dmitry Sonko, 08.05.2001, 197 cm, Russia.
Forwards
2. Beau Beech, 01.03.1994, 201 cm, USA,
5. Michael Hopkins, 23.06.1993, 206 cm, USA,
12. Yauheni Beliankou, 11.06.1995, 198 cm, Belarus,
14. Artem Shlegel, 19.08.2003, 203 cm, Russia,
23. Sergey Dolinin, 16.02.2000, 205 cm, Russia.
Center
11. Sergey Balashov, 20.07.1996, 206 cm, Russia,
33. Roman Zagretdinov, 02.04.1996, 210 cm, Russia.
The match starts at 12:30 Belarusian time. The broadcast will be available on the official website of the VTB United League, as well as on the Belarus 5 TV channel.