Car-work orange
The Uralmashzavod basketball club was established in Sverdlovsk in 1960 on the basis of the Avangard, Trud and Zenit teams. The Urals team spent eight seasons at the USSR to tier, their best achievement being 9th place in 1962 and 1966. Then, due to lack of funding, the team was closed – unusually, this happened before USSR collapsed, in 1984.
Uralmash was revived exactly 30 years later. Since the 2018/19 season, the Yekaterinburg team played in the Superliga, won it twice, and in the summer of 2023, the VTB United League approved the club’s application to join.
In the first season, the newcomer, playing in orange and pistachio colors, showed its grit: Uralmash confidently won the second round of the regular season (the group where places 7th through 14th competed), and in the 1/4 became the only unseeded team that was not swept. Moreover, the Urals team dragged the series with Zenit into the decisive 5th match, where in the 4th quarter they had a very real chance of reaching the semifinals.
For Lokomotiv Kuban, Uralmash is a very inconvenient opponent. Even if we take into account only official matches, the opponents’ win record is 2-2, and there were two more defeats for the red-greens in the pre-season Gloria Cup (in 2023, one free throw in the last second was not enough for overtime – 74:75; and in 2024 Loko lost without much of a chance – 70:82). Among the defeats in official matches, there is one that did not allow Lokomotiv to reach last year’s Russian Cup Final Four. So today’s game will definitely have a nerve.
What will O'Bryant show today?
Uralmash did not arrive in Krasnodar with its optimal lineup. Octavius Ellis, one of the most dominant centers of the VTB United League last season, is missing due to injury. Uralmash urgently signed Johnny O’Bryant to replace him. In the 2019/20 season, Krasnodar fans remembered this player not only for his willingness to engage in correspondence with them, but also for his powerful play in defense and attack.
But so far O’Bryant has played for his new team only once. So, another legionnaires lead Uralmash at the moment, both in statistics and playing time.
Stanley Whittaker, Tyrell Nelson and Javonte Douglas are spending their second season in Yekaterinburg, and since summer they are accompanied by one of the main makers of last year’s Yenisei sensation, Jeremiah Martin. Each player in this quartet averages more than 12.5 points per game. Whittaker is in the top 5 in the league in scoring and assists, Douglas is third in rebounds, and Martin is third in steals.
The Russians of Uralmash are quite decent. The club’s captain Anton Glazunov has less time on the court this year (he is 38 years old, after all), but he still spends his 13.5 minutes usefully. Another player who came from Yenisei, forward Evgeny Belyankov, has fit in well with the team (he is Belarus, though, but does not count as legionnaire). Vyacheslav Zaitsev is consistently good in defense.
It is especially important to note the fact that Uralmash has been playing very well away this season – Rostislav Vergun’s team got all three of their victories away (only CSKA in Megasport was beyond their strength). So it will be very difficult for Loko to extend their winning streak to 7 matches.
Birthday boi
Lokomotiv’s mascot Zubastik will celebrate his birthday at the matchday. The debut of this creature of a species unknown to science took place on October 15, 2011, at a Eurocup game, in which the Krasnodar team beat the Polish Prokom with a score of 79:66. Anyone can bring a gift for Zubby, or, on the contrary, receive something from him by taking part in our activities.
See you at the Basket Hall!
Where to watch
The game will be broadcasted live by Krasnodar, Match! Igra, Start TV channels, as well as the official websites of the VTB United League and ours.