The upcoming game will be the 33rd between these opponents. Currently, Lokomotiv has 26 wins, while Yenisei has 6. The last time Krasnoyarsk defeated us was on April 13, 2024, in Krasnodar (76:83). They also beat us that season on October 18, 2023, at home (88:87). That was the season in which Yenisei finished the regular season in the Top 6.
But the following (24/25) season, Jovica Arsić‘s team finished 10th – they made it into the play-in but were eliminated by MBA-MAI. And in the summer, the Krasnoyarsk team’s roster changed by more than half (their logo also changed – it now features a lion).
At the same time, Yenisei remains a team with many players with Lokomotiv experience. This will be forward Sergei Dolinin‘s 3rd season with the league’s easternmost club. Our alumnus has steadily improved, making the All-Star Game last spring, where he participated in the slam dunk contest. In 10 preseason games this August-September (Yenisei won five of them), Dolinin was a consistent starter, averaging 6.9 points and tied for first on the team in rebounds with 6.0.
Mikhail Vedishchev stays the player of Loko being currently on loan at Yenisei. This preseason, the 21-year-old point guard averaged 20 minutes per game, posting stats of 5.3 points (on 40.9% shooting from 3-point line), 1.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and even 0.2 blocks.
Guard Nikita Yevdokimov left Lokomotiv’s youth team for the NCAA in the midst of the 2020/21 season, but things didn’t work out for him there. Recently, he returned to Russia, and after a year with BC Barnaul in the Superliga, he will test his skills at the VTB United League level. During the preseason, his stats were: 8.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in 24 minutes per game.
Forward Alexei Sereda joined Yenisey directly from our youth team. His statistics in friendly games for his new club were 2.9 points (on 38.9% shooting from three) and 1.1 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game.
Yenisey’s captain this season will be 24-year-old forward Dmitry Sonko. A product of the Krasnoyarsk club’s youth system, he played 25 minutes per game this preseason, adding 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists to his 11.0 points.
Yenisei has three legionnairs, all of whom are new to our league.
Dominic Artis is an American shooting guard who plays for the Kosovo national team. He spent last season with Strasbourg (13.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists); in preseason games, he led the Krasnoyarsk team in scoring (15.1 points), tied with Dolinin for the rebound lead (6.0), averaging 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals, being first his team in plus/minus (+21) by a significant margin.
Meanwhile, in terms of efficiency points in preseason games, Artis (20.7) was surpassed by power forward Danilo Tasić (20.9) thanks to Serbian’s 14.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks. The 32-year-old began last season with Serbian club FMP and finished with Olimpija Ljubljana, where he won the Slovenian championship and cup (Tasić is pictured below making the highest jump).
Point guard Matt Coleman III has experience playing for Beşiktaş, Hapoel Haifa, and the US U18 national team, with which he won the FIBA Americas Championship. During the preseason, the 27-year-old point guard played more minutes per game than any other Yenisei player – nearly 30 minutes per game, averaging 12.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.1 steals.
Yenisei will have an interesting competition at the center position between 3 promising Russians. Krasnoyarsk began the offseason with 21-year-old Yegor Vanin (3.8 points, 3.4 rebounds) and 26-year-old Dmitry Khaldeev (4.0 assists, 2.4 rebounds, he was a starter in most of summer games), and earlier this week they added 21-year-old Yegor Ryzhov, loaned from Zenit.
Also worth noting is 20-year-old shooting guard Yegor Skuratov, who led the VTB United Youth League in scoring last season with 19.5 points.
Well, this is the kind of opponent Lokomotiv Kuban will be looking to open their VTB United League season win count against on October 2nd. Come support our team – it’ll be exciting!