Tomorrow, March 27, a VTB United League match between ‘Tsmoki-Minsk’ and ‘Avtodor’ Saratov will take place at the Minsk Arena. The starting throw-in will take place at 16.00.
The teams have already met in the current championship: on October 16, 2021 in Saratov, the hosts were luckier - 95:79. It would be nice to take revenge.
‘Avtodor’ has taken a swing at high places this season and is confidently heading towards the goal. Although on Wednesday at home, the Volzhans quite unexpectedly lost in a VTB United League match to Perm ‘PARMA-PARIBET’ — 70:86. Double - digit number of points scored: Jaron Johnson — 19 + 5 AST, Pavel Sergeev - 15 + 6 AST + 2 STL, Evgeny Minchenko - 11 + 11 REB, Anton Kvitkovskikh - 10 + 4 REB + 4 AST. Despite the setback, Saratov still retains the fourth place in the standings, having a positive balance of wins and losses 9/6.
‘Avtodor’ performed even more successfully in the FIBA Europe Cup. The team was constantly leading in its group for two stages and before the start of the playoffs, it was not without reason considered the main favorite of the tournament. However, by the decision of FIBA Saratov were excluded from the European Cup.
Like many VTB United League clubs, ‘Avtodor’ suffered severely after the departure of not only legionnaires, but also the head coach of Macedonian Emil Raikovich.On Monday, it became known about another loss: Croatian forward Zeljko Shakic will spend the rest of the season at Kazan ‘UNICS’. The same team will be joined by one of the most productive players of ‘Avtodor’ - Jaron Johnson, who also left the club on March 25. However, there is also a replenishment: forward Alexandr Petenev returned from ‘Dynamo’ (Vladivostok) to ‘Avtodor’, and a group of understudies is also involved in the basis.
By the way, after the defeat of ‘Astana’ in Nur-Sultan (84:61), the acting head coach Vladislav Konovalov spoke with great optimism about his young wards:
— Under the circumstances, we rely on talented young players. The match with ‘Astana’ showed that our guys have reached a new level and are ready to take responsibility for the result. Motivation, dedication and making the right decisions on the court will come to the fore in the upcoming matches.
A few words about the mentor of ‘Avtodor’. Vladislav Konovalov, 47, was born in Kazakhstan. He started coaching after finishing his playing career in 2006 - he was an assistant to Valery Tikhonenko at CSK VVS-Samara. At the end of the 2008-09 season, he headed the ‘pilots' team himself. Then there were the Kostanay ‘Tobol’, with which he won silver medals of the championship of Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk ‘Enisey’ (2012/13), "Red Wings" (2013/15), "Temp"-SUMZ-UMMC (2015/16), finally, since 2016 Konovalov has been in the ‘Avtodor’ club system: he headed the youth team, then he was Raykovich's assistant.
Our guests from Saratov are preparing for the match with "Tsmoki-Minsk" with the following roster:
Guards:
1.Vitalius Pranauskis (08.12.2002, 195)
10. Nikita Mikhailovskii (10.09.2000, 202)
24. Evgenii Kolesnikov ( 26.12.1985, 195)
30. Pavel Sergeev ( 28.07.1987, 187)
79. Alexandr Gavrilov (10.04.1996, 195)
Forwards:
9. Alexandr Petenev ( 24.11.2000, 197)
11. Andrei Ivanov (23.07.2003, 197)
12. Stanislav Reish (17.04.2003, 202)
16. Anton Kvitkovckikh (03.11.2000, 203)
17. Maxim Karvanen (30.10.1999, 203)
Centers:
14. Evgenii Minchenko (13.12.1994, 215)
23. Andrei Pechkin (12.02.2002, 205)
Acting head coach — Vladislav Konovalov (1974).