This Sunday, our men's team at the Falcon Club Arena will hold the third home match in a row against the guests from Krasnodar. Read more about the opponent in our preview.
Roster
Lokomotiv-Kuban have retained a significant part of their 2022/23 squad this season, when the team won the silver medal of the VTB United League championship. In particular, the cooperation with the club was continued by legionnaires Jaylen Barford, Okaro White and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell. Slovenian specialist Alexandr Sekulic remained as head coach.
Only a few names were mentioned among the newcomers to the Russian team this year. Kirill Temirov is a pupil of the Krasnodar club, recorded his participation in 7 League matches in the statistics. Another player of the Loko youth team Sergey Shchetinin made his debut in a duel against UNICS.
In the off-season, the club announced the transfer of Jordan Morgan. In the 2020/21 season with UNICS, he took part in 20 matches, in which he averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 22 minutes on the floor. Together with the Kazan club, Jordan reached the final and became the vice-champion of the VTB United League. In the 2022/23 season, Morgan played 21 matches in the Turkish championship for Konyaspor with an average of 17.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
But the most interesting signing for the fans of our club was the news about the transfer of Minsk pupil Uladzislau Blizniuk to Lokomotiv-Kuban. And perhaps this Sunday we will see for the first time the confrontation of Vlad against his former teammates, with whom he played together throughout his professional career.
Season 2023/24
The favorites of last season did not show a very confident start in this, losing in the first 4 out of 5 matches to UNICS, PARMA, Uralmash and Enisey. However, towards the end of October, the Krasnodar team rehabilitated and then won 6 victories in 7 games, losing only to Astana with a score of 68:78. Now Alexander Sekulic's team has risen to the 5th line of the standings.
DeVaughn Akoon Purcell demonstrates the best scoring averages in the Russian team – 16.4 in seven games. The striker also demonstrates average statistics of 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists. Jaylen Barford averaged 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.0 steals per game in 11 games. Okaro White's average stats in 12 matches: 13.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.0 steals.
Forward of MINSK Artsem Sekushenka: “The team is waiting for the third home match in a row. I think we need to communicate more in defense and help each other. It is also necessary to stay focused until the very end, to fight and not give up, to realize what is planned in each attack. We are waiting for all our spectators in the arena!”
The roster of the opponent
Lokomotiv-Kuban, Krasnodar
Guards
0. Jaylen Barford, 23.01.1996, 191 cm, USA,
1. Alexandr Shcherbenev, 03.10.2000, 190 cm, Russia,
33. Zakhar Vedishchev, 09.07.2000, 196 cm, Russia,
35. Vladislav Emchenko, 03.10.1999, 194 cm, Russia,
77. Uladzislau Blizniuk, 08.01.1999, 183 cm, Belarus.
Forwards
2. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, 05.06.1993, 198 cm, Trinidad and Tobago,
7. Kirill Temirov, 01.02.2002, 195 cm, Russia,
13. Dmitry Uzinsky, 13.07.1993, 199 cm, Russia,
15. Okaro White, 13.08.1992, 203 cm, USA,
16. Anton Kvitkovskikh, 03.11.2000, 201 cm, Russia,
19. Jordan Morgan, 09/15/1991, 203 cm, USA,
25. Sergey Shchetinin, 02/28/2004, 201 cm, Russia.
Centers
9. Andrey Martyuk, 10.06.2000, 211 cm, Russia,
12. Kirill Elatontsev, 12.07.2002, 211 cm, Russia.
The head coach is Aleksandr Sekulic, Slovenia.
Tickets for the match can be purchased on the website and at points of sale kvitki.by , as well as in the lobby of the arena on the day of the game from 13:30. Also, 1.5 hours before the start of the match, all guests will be waiting for a tasting from Mir and Darida, photo zones, branded products of the club, a basket zone and other activities in the arena lobby. The meeting starts at 15:00. We are waiting for everyone!