Tomorrow at 7:00 PM, UNICS and MINSK will play on the parquet of the Basket Hall in Kazan. In the previous match, our team won the first victory of the season against Krasnoyarsk Enisey, and with a fighting spirit goes to the second away match in a row.
Season 2022/23
After defeating Enisey with a score of 63:61 in the previous away game, Minsk residents proved that they are ready to continue fighting and demonstrate high-quality basketball. A great start was also shown by the newly minted player of MINSK, Supreme Shakur Hannah, who in two games demonstrated the following average statistics: points – 13.5, rebounds – 3.0, assists – 2.5. Uladzislau Blizniuk remains the permanent leader of our team. Over 11 games, Vlad averages 14.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals. According to the results of the first round of the first stage of the 2022/23 season of the VTB United League, Vlad got into the top 10 players according to the main indicators.
Meanwhile, the opponent has only 1 loss in 12 fights. UNICS lost only to CSKA and took the second position in the standings. However, the meeting can be especially interesting, because before that it was with UNICS that our team was close to victory, conceding only 3 points at the key moment of the game and ending the meeting with a score of 54:58.
Since the last meeting of MINSK and UNICS, the composition of Kazan has not changed. The coaching staff continues to be headed by Velimir Perasovic, defender Daryl Macon returned to the ranks after recovery.
The average age of the team is almost 29 years old, the average height is 194 cm. Jalen Reynolds continues to be the most productive UNICS player of those who took part in all the matches of the season. His average stats: 14.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists. And American defender Daryl Macon in the previous match of UNICS against Loko showed his best performance in the League: 20 points with 8 shots from 11, 6 assists and 22 points for the effectiveness of actions.
MINSK guard Uladzislau Blizniuk:
— After the recent victory over the Krasnoyarsk Enisey, the team feels better psychologically, a certain weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Newcomer Supreme Hannah helped the team a lot in the last meeting and I think that with his arrival we became more variable in attack, which, of course, we lacked at the start of the season. As for UNICS, it is a very strong team with a competent coach at the head. The match in Minsk showed that we can play with them on an equal footing. We are waiting for the second consecutive away meeting with long flights. It won't be easy, but we are determined to fight in Kazan and show good basketball for all 40 minutes.
The roster of UNICS (Kazan)
Guards:
0. Sergey Polstyanov (23.10.2002, 96 cm, Russia),
1. Nenad Dimitrijevic (23.02.1998, 190 cm, North Macedonia),
4. Daryl Macon (29.11.1995, 191 cm, USA),
30. Mikhail Kulagin (04.08.1994, 191 cm, Russia),
8. Vyacheslav Zaitcev (28.08.1989,190 cm, Russia),
61. Maxim Tkachenko (16.01.1992, 184 cm, Russia).
Forwards:
7. Louis Labeyrie (11.02.1992, 208 cm, France),
11. Stanislav Ilnitsky (24.02. 1994, 201 cm, Russia),
12. Georgiy Zhbanov (10.10.1997, 197 cm, Russia),
21. Anthony Brown (10.10.1992, 201 cm, USA),
28. Alexandr Razumov (22.04.1992, 204 cm, Russia),
33. Andrey Vorontsevich (17.07.1987, 207 cm, Russia).
Centers:
3. Jalen Reynolds (30.12.1992, 208 cm, USA),
32. Vince Hunter (05.08.1994, 203 cm, USA),
35. Artem Zabelin (15.01.1988, 215 cm, Russia).
The head coach is Velimir Perasovic (Croatia).
The match broadcast will be available on the VTB United League website. The starting face-off is at 7:00 PM. We are rooting for MINSK!