Andrey Martyuk has a slight ankle injury. With Egor Sychkov, the situation is more unpleasant, he will miss at least a month due to a shin injury. In the two previous matches, at home with Paris NN and away with Zenit, Sychkov spent 11.5 and 21 minutes on the floor, respectively – the more insulting that the damage occurred right now.
Center Grigory Shukhovtsov will be included in the application for the match for the first time in the season. In the last game of the Super League, away against the Kupol-Rodniki club, the experienced veteran became the most productive in the SSHOR-Lokomotiv-Kuban team – he scored 16 points.
In the game of the first round in Belarus, “Minsk” for almost three quarters offered serious resistance to the guests – especially since the home team was supported by almost 10 thousand fans. Vladislav Bliznyuk, who scored 22 points and made 5 three-pointers out of 8, then caused the most problems in Minsk. Ivan Paunic’s game became the X-factor in the Loko squad – the Serbian defender scored 12 points in 16 minutes with one hundred percent of the shots from the game. The final score is 92:70 in favor of Loko.
Minsk has only one victory in the tournament so far – it was won away over Yenisei in November. Since then, the Belarusian club has established itself as the main outsider of the league, including losing twice to Astana from Kazakhstan. The last time was on January 11 away, with a crushing score of 48:77.
So, even despite the loss of Martyuk and Sychkov, it is unlikely that Loko will experience serious game problems tomorrow. The main intrigue is how the club’s newcomer, forward DeVon Akun–Purcell, will manifest himself. In the previous round, on a visit with Zenit, he became one of the main creators of the protracted and almost successful pursuit of Loko. Recall that the Krasnodar club turned “-16” into “-2” and could have snatched victory with a three-pointer in the last attack, and Akun-Purcell scored 20 points in the end.
Live broadcast of the match – on lokobasket.com , VTB United League website, as well as TV channels “Match! Game” and “TV Start”.
And we are waiting for you in the stands of the Basket Hall!