Lokomotiv Kuban vs Metropolitans 92. EuroCup. Preview

Loko will start in the EuroCup Top 16 with a match against Metropolitans 92. Information about the opponent, interesting facts and comments in the preview from lokobasket.com.

After two tougher matches in a reduced squad at the beginning of January Loko will face a new challenge – a match against a very difficult opponent in the EuroCup.

Metropolitans 92 won their group in the EuroCup regular season and is in second place in the French championship standings. In France Metropolitans 92 has their last match on December, winning seven out of nine matches. They are now higher than ASVEL in the table, which plays in the Euroleague, so everything is serious.

Loko lost two matches in a row in VTB United League to Khimki and Astana, but now this is a completely different story. We believe in team and look forward to a confident starting game in the Top 16!

The leaders of Metropolitans 92 are Anthony Brown, Brandon Brown and Archie Goodwin, as well as Bastien Pinault and David Michineau. Another key player is Bosnian center Miralem Halilovic, who missed the start of the season due to injury and is only getting involved in the game.

It should be noted that center Assem Marei left the team before the New Year. The Egyptian looked very good in the first half of the season (13.3 points + 7.3 rebounds), but initially Metropolitans 92 signed a contract with him for three months, positioning him as a temporary replacement for the injured Halilovic. The Bosnian recovered, so the contract with Marei was not renewed.

Metropolitans 92 is an aggressive team, balanced along all lines, with a wide roster. They play stringy basketball, they move the ball a lot. They include a lot of shooters and also have strong big men who work well under the boards. We need to play from defense, not let them make the shots without resistance, impose a one-on-one game. We need to improve defense, control rebounds and find the weaknesses of the opponent, in particular, run into fastbreaks as often as possible. This is the first Top 16 game, so we will do our best to win and please our fans with a quality play.

Evgeny Pashutin, head coach of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

Metropolitans 92 is a good team, they seat now at second place in the French championship, so they are very dangerous. During these couple of days we will do a lot of work to get the game in optimal shape. We played the last games not in the best way. It's always a shame to lose, but we need to draw the right conclusions after two defeats, to understand what we should improve and where to add. We are tuning in to the opponent very seriously and will give our best for the win!

Vladislav Emchenko, guard of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

Loko will play against Metropolitans 92 on January 12 at 19:30 (Moscow Time). You can find the channel in your country to watch this game online:

Balkans: NOVA SPORT	Sweden: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Spain: DAZN	Internet: EUROLEAGUE.TV
Italy: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Portugal: SPORT TV POR
United Kingdom: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Israel: SPORT4 HD
Ireland: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Russian Federation: MATCH!IGRA
Denmark: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Slovenia: SPORT TV1
Finland: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Greece: NOVASPORTS 5HD
Norway: EUROSPORT PLAYER	Turkey: TIVIBU SPOR

Alan Williams and Archie Goodwin played together in NBA at Phoenix Suns in 2016. Now they cannot meet on the court, because of Alan’s injury, but the fact does not become less interesting from this.

Brandon Brown spent last season in the VTB United League, where he played for Nizhny Novgorod. Brandon plays two games against Loko, in which he averaged 16 points.

Grigory Motovilov was injured in the game against Khimki and is training individually. He did not fly with the team to Nur-Sultan. The recovery continues.

Kevin Hervey felt unwell before the game against Astana and was also unable to play.

The decision on whether they can play will be made by the medical staff and the head coach.