Preview

Trento – Lokomotiv Kuban. EuroCup. Preview

In the second round of the EuroCup Top 16 Loko will play against Trento in Italy. The history of the confrontation, interesting facts and comments of the head coach and player in the preview from lokobasket.сom.

Over the weekend Loko interrupted a streak of three defeats in a row and confidently beat Nizhny Novgorod away. The next day the red-greens went to Moscow, from there to Venice and only then to Trento! A couple of days for acclimatization will give the team a little rest.

The beginning of January was clearly not set for Loko, but Trento is now having an even more difficult period than the team from Krasnodar had – the Italians have already lost six games in a row. If the defeats to Brindisi and Virtus Bologna can still be explained by the strength of the opponents, then the game against Partizan will remain in the memory of players and fans for a long time – Trento lost away with a score of 43:71. Yesterday Trento have got another upset and lost in a home game to Treviso.

The best player on the team, without much hesitation, can be called Gary Brown. He scores the most points, is a leader in assists and is not bad at rebounds. Last season Gary played in the EuroCup for Darussafaka. 

JaCorey Williams is Trento’s key player in the three-second zone. Other american players are good too – Luke Maye, Jeremy Morgan and Victor Sanders.

Do not discount the Italian Argentinean (or Argentinean Italian) Andres Toto Forray. Italian players don’t really fit into Nicola Brienza’s schemes and don’t get much time on the court, so Forray is an exception to the rule. Like Davide Pascolo too, who got almost 15 min per game!

Trento’s statistics are not amazing, but they play very well in defense – they concede only 73.9 points per game on average. Only Monaco (71.7) has better defense in the EuroCup.

At the weekend, Loko conceded less than 75 points for the first time in a month and confidently beat an opponent in Nizhny Novgorod. The whole team had an excellent match, because the aggression in defense, the fast movement of the ball and the control of rebounds are not carried out alone. 

Will Cummings showed his real level for the first time after injury and scored 25 points. Jordan Crawford again did not score a single long range shot, but he was very helpful, like all the players on the team!

After the game Loko head coach stressed that the team was starting to return to the conditions they had before the New Year. We believe in the sequence of actions of the coaching staff and are optimistic about the future!

Evgeny Pashutin, head coach of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

The game against Trento will be very tough. They are an strong team that plays physically aggressive basketball. Trento got a lot of 3-point shooters, especially Maye, Morgan, Sanders and Brown. We can't let these players shoot without resistance. In the three-second zone looks very good Williams, to whom we must impose a fight under the basket. We have to control the rebounds and play team basketball. The game against Nizhny Novgorod in VTB League showed that we are returning to our game with aggressive defense and fast ball movement. We need to act in the same spirit, be concentrated all forty minutes, play only to win!

Kevin Hervey, forward of PBC Lokomotiv Kuban

After the last game in VTB League we have two days off and have a time for fell like home here in Trento. This is a strong team, a tough opponent, we gonna give our best and see what happens

Loko will play against Trento on January 20 at 22:00 (Moscow Time). You can find the channel in your country to watch this game online:

Balkans: NOVA SPORT
Norway: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Spain: DAZN
Sweden: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Italy: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Internet: EUROLEAGUE.TV
United Kingdom: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Greece: NOVASPORTS 5HD
Ireland: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Russian Federation: MATCH!STRANA
Denmark: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Georgia: SILK SPORT 2 HD
Finland: EUROSPORT PLAYER
Slovenia: SPORT TV3

Jordan Crawford and Gary Brown played against each other in the 2018/19 Israel Championship. Jordan then played for Ironi from Nahariya and Gary for Ironi from Nes Ziona. Brown’s team won 103: 93 while Gary scored 28 points. Crawford scored 20 points in that match. 

Will Cummings and Gary Brown graduated from high schools in Jacksonville, Florida. So it is quite possible that they crossed paths at some kind of children’s competition.

Luke Maye became the 2017 NCAA Champion with the University of North Carolina. In the National final his team beat Gonzaga, led by Nigel Williams-Goss. Nigel has not yet joined the team, but very soon we expect him to arrive in Krasnodar. Besides, the contract has been signed, so the fact is quite interesting. Well, personally, he will see Luke in the game in Krasnodar!

Loko and Trento have already met in the EuroCup in the 2017/18 season, and also in the Top 16! The Red-Greens won two games. In the second round Loko won in Krasnodar 97:69, Ryan Broekhoff became the best player of the match with 20 points. On the road Loko had a much harder game, but they managed to retain the advantage and win 74:71. Broekhoff again became the most productive player in Loko’s roster – 13 points.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, but the opponents still have players who took part in these matches. Loko captain Stanislav Ilnitskiy was in the roster for both matches, but he did not appear on the court. But for Trento Toto Forray played in two matches, and a young Luca Conti appeared on the court at home, who was only 17 years old then!

In the last game in the Italian championship american forward Kelvin Martin was in the roster, but did not enter the court due to a left thigh injury.

Martin is an important player in the rotation (25.2 minutes in Eurocup, 8.8 points + 4.9 rebounds), he missed just two games in Italian champ. It is difficult to judge whether Kelvin will be able to play against Loko on Wednesday.

Founded: 1995
Arena: BLM Group Arena
Capacity: 4360
Colors: black, white
Head coach: Nicola Brienza

Share with Friends: