Loko vs PARMA: to break the Permian spell

The first game of 2025 is something special for Lokomotiv Kuban: the only team in the league that we have not beaten this season will come to Krasnodar. The game with PARMA will begin on January 4 at 3 PM in Basket Hall.

PARMA, which is headed by well-known to Krasnodar fans Evgeny Pashutin, remained the only team that Loko has not beaten even once.

When we played on November 6, for a long time it seemed that things were heading towards a difficult victory for Lokomotiv, but the Permians eliminated the 7 point gap in the final two minutes, took the lead, and in the last attack, not one of our team’s four shots reached the target – 79:81. After 9 victories at the start of the season, this became the third defeat in a row for the Krasnodar club.

On December 11, the opponents met again, this time in Perm. Loko allowed the opponent to score 34 points in the first quarter, tried hard to catch up, levelled the score at the 4th quarter, but in the end PARMA was more accurate and lucky – 88:93.

Those two defeats had different scenarios, but they did have something in common – we lacked energy. This time, I am sure, there will be no underestimation from our side. We need to play the way we can. First of all, we must defend well against a team that has already proven that it is very dangerous in attack.

Andrey Vedishchev, the head coach at Lokomotiv Kuban

PARMA’s main star is obviously Royce Hamm, the best rebounder of the season so far (8.4 per game on average), who also ranks 5th in the league in points (16.2) and blocks (1.0).

Samson Ruzhentsev has been showing a very good level in December. The forward missed the start of the championship due to injury, but in the five games he has played, his stats impress: 15.2 points + 3.8 assists.

Point guard Alex Hamilton often performs greatly against Lokomotiv. In the December game, he scored 22 points, made 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and in November he shone even brighter: 29 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists.

Center Alexander Shashkov is showing good progress – on average, he scores 8.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

The Perm team is actively developing a young Russian talent – forward Lev Svinin. The player, who is called “the new Kirilenko” for his versatility, plays an average of 8 minutes in the VTB United League, scoring 1.9 points and making 0.9 rebounds and 0.3 assists.

Stanislav Ilnitsky is well known to Krasnodar fans. In 2017-21, the forward played for Loko, and now he is not only a captain in PARMA, but also makes a significant contribution to the team’s results: 5.1 points, 4.4 rebounds.

Over 6,000 tickets have already been sold for the Lokomotiv – PARMA game, so we encourage everyone to arrive early.

Those who won’t be able to visit Basket Hall on January 4 will probably be interested to know that the match will be shown live on Krasnodar, Match, and Start Triumph TV channels, as well as our online resource. Go, Lokomotiv!