Fun fact: until Saturday morning, Lokomotiv was tied with CSKA for 3rd-4th place, and no additional metrics would’ve helped determine who must be higher. This is because both teams were tied not only in win-loss ratio, but also in their score difference, which was absolutely equal – 333:307 (head-to-head games were also not applicable, as Loko and CSKA hadn’t played each other yet).
A little later, CSKA won their away game against Yenisei, 67:98. Lokomotiv will have a hard time repeating that, because UNICS is currently looking very strong: 4 straight wins by an average margin of +19.8, including a 104:77 rout of Zenit in St. Petersburg. Velimir Perasović‘s team currently scores the most (94.0), concedes the fewest (74.2), leads the league in 2-point percentage (59.9), assists (23.0), steals (8.5), and makes the least turnovers (9.8).
UNICS’s new center, Marcus Bingham, has made a strong appearance at the start of the championship – along with Patrick Miller, he became the only player to be selected to the Team of the Week twice. The 6’11” American leads the league in rebounds (8.8), averages 18.5 points with 70% 2-point shooting, 57.1% 3-point shooting, and 100% free throw shooting, also making 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks (2nd-3rd place in the league).
Paris Lee is another newcomer tour league who, judging by first appearance, is worthy of being the top star. After 4 games, the long-dreadlocked point guard, a dual-American with Cameroonian citizenship, is tied with Patrick Miller for the assist lead (7.3), averaging 14.0 points, throwing 7.0 3-pointers per game with a 39.3% accuracy, and is by far the team’s best in plus/minus (+24).
UNICS’ next-highest plus/minus player is shooting guard CJ Bryce (+14.8). Krasnodar fans may remember him for scoring a buzzer-beater on October 5, 2023, while playing for PARMA, which allowed the Perm team to win 85:87 in the season opener. After a season with AEK, Bryce returned to Russia, and in 4 games with UNICS, he boasts stats of 11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists.
Small forward Dyshawn Pierre nearly signed with Lokomotiv this summer, but opted for Kazan at the last minute. For his new team, he’s averaging 13.8 points, 4.0 rebounds (including a team-high 2.5 offensive rebounds) and is fouled on 4.5 times a game (also a team-high).
If we look at pure scoring—points divided by minutes played—then among UNICS players, the well-known for us Jalen Reynolds has no equal: 15.3 in 16:18 minutes, which translates to 0.94 points per minute (the center would score 37.5 points if he played a full game under European rules without substitutions). In addition, Reynolds is averaging 2.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.8 blocks.
Five UNICS players are getting 20 minutes or more this season. Of those we haven’t mentioned yet (in descending order of playing time: Lee, Bryce, Bingham, Pierre), the remaining one is power forward Andrei Lopatin. He’s currently averaging exactly 20 minutes and 00 seconds per game, resulting in 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.0 steals.
UNICS captain Dmitry Kulagin plays a little less than half of the game (which is 19:36), but this does not stop the shooting guard, who has played for Lokomotiv for 3 seasons, from putting together a pretty decent line of 6.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals (in the latter indicator, he is the best in his team).
UNICS’ starting small forward is Mikhail Belenitsky: 5.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals.
Finally, UNICS’s 9th player to log more than 10 minutes per game (15:09, to be exact) is shooting guard Denis Zakharov. He played for Lokomotiv in the 2016/17 season and won the VTB United League’s Young Player of the Month award. Now Zakharov averages 2.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals for UNICS.
The Loko–UNICS rivalry is one of the densest in Russia. We’ve met 71 times in the VTB United League and EuroCup. Kazan has won 39 matches, while we’ve won 32 so far. Achieving our 33rd victory on October 19th is a great challenge. Not only given the strength of our opponents, but also because a win would help us draw level with them in the standings.
Go, Loko! We believe in you!