The Take
Cedevita Zagreb (0-3) will have one last chance to stay alive this week when it hosts undefeated Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (3-0) in Round 4. Loko has not lost yet this season and in fact, it could advance with a win combined with a Buducnost VOLI Podgorica victory in the other Group G game this week. If that happens, Cedevita will lose all chances to reach the next phase.
Last week, Loko won the first-ever encounter between the sides 69-64 decision thanks to Frank Elegar’s 20 points and 9 rebounds.
The Croatian champs look to Demetris Nichols (12.6 ppg.), Will Cherry (12.2 ppg.) and Dzanan Musa (11.0 ppg.) to lead the attack, but they also lost Kevin Murphy, who left the team after agreeing to it with the club.
The visitors have their main option in Joe Ragland (12.8 ppg., 5.0 apg.), Ryan Broekhoff (12.6 ppg., 5.8 rpg.) and Trevor Lacey (10.4 ppg.). Loko has the best defense in the league (69.9 ppg.) and dominates the hosts also in rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and index rating.
However, last week Loko only managed to win by only 5 and led by just 1 point with 22 seconds to go, so the game being in Zagreb, the Cedevita fans can be expected to push hard for a win that would give them some hope.
Quotes
The game takes place in Zagreb on January 24th at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time.