The team, now sporting the Mega Superbet name, was founded in December 1998 as Avala Ada by workers at the packaging factory of the same name in Belgrade. By 2005, the team had secured a spot in the Serbian and Montenegrin Premier League and was renamed Mega. Since then, they have competed in their country’s premier league, and since the fall of 2013, they have also played in the Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA).
Mega’s best season to date is 2015/16, when they won the Serbian Cup and reached the ABA final. They also finished second in the 2020/21 Serbian league. Last season, the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of both the Serbian league and the ABA, while the year before, they reached the semifinals of both competitions.
It was Mega from where shooting guard Ivan Paunić transferred to Lokomotiv Kuban in 2020, spending 3 good seasons with us. However, our opponent is far better known as Nikola Jokić‘s first club. Joker is not the only one for whom Mega became a springboard to the NBA: others include Vasilije Micić, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Ivica Zubac, Vlatko Čančar, Goga Bitadze, Nikola Jović, and Karlo Matković.
Mega’s current captain, power forward Bogoljub Marković, is already selected in the NBA draft last summer with the 47th pick by the Milwaukee Bucks. But for now, he’s been retained by his hometown club to gain experience. And that is exactly what the 20-year-old, 6’9″-tall player is doing well: in the current ABA season, he leads his team in points (17.7), rebounds (5.7), and efficiency (15.7). He scored 30 points in his previous game (against Iliria on October 31), and against CSKA, he performed impressive 5 blocks.
The 109:83 victory over Iliria was Mega’s 2nd in 5 games of the ABA. Power forward Marko Vukčević, who is averaging 7.2 points and 2.4 rebounds this season, added 14 points to Marković‘s 30 points that night.
The gamely before, on October 25, Mega lost to Crvena Zvezda 73:94. In that match, aforementioned Vukčević scored 12 points, as did point guard Vuk Radojičić – all by his 3-point attempts (4 of 4). His stats in the ABA so far are 9.2 points (with 40.7% long shots), 2.4 assists, and 0.6 steals. At 24, Radojičić is the oldest player on Mega’s roster for the Winline Basket Cup.
In their first game at the Winline Basket Cup, Mega surprised many by defeating CSKA in Moscow, 81:72. Center Luigi Suigo had a brilliant performance that night, scoring half of his 18 points from 3-point range. The 7’3″-tall Italian wunderkind (pictured next) leads his team in blocks this season (1.2), averaging 8.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.8 steals. Still, he’s usually the team’s second-choice center behind Lazar Gačić (10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.3 blocks), who, however, didn’t play against CSKA.
Small forward Asim Đulović scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds against CSKA. He’s also a key player for Mega in the ABA, averaging 12.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks.
Savo Drezgić is our opponent’s starting point guard. His stats for the season are 16.2 points (on 41.7% three-point shooting), 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.2 steals. Against CSKA, he scored 14 points, adding 5 rebounds and 7 assists.
Shooting guard Urban Kroflič logged the most minutes on the court in the Moscow game (32.19), recording 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. The Slovenian is one of those players whose impact on the team isn’t fully reflected in simple stats, though his 53.8% three-point shooting is certainly impressive.
Did the teams played each other before?
The answer is yes – this will be the 3rd game between Lokomotiv Kuban and Mega.
We first played in Belgrade on September 13, 2017. It was the final of the Mega Cup. Thanks to scoring 64 points in the 2nd half, Loko won 108:85. Chris Babb was our best scorer with 20 points, Joe Ragland added 8 assists to his 18 points, and Ryan Broekhoff had a double-double (13+10 assists).
On September 25, 2022, the teams played in Moscow – in the VTB United League Supercup game for 5th place. It was a great thriller: leading 50:42 at halftime, Loko blew a 3rd quarter, but still managed to turn a 65:72 deficit into a 95:93 lead in the final 10 minutes. In that game, Jaylen Barford scored 21 points, Alexander Shcherbenev had 16, Darrall Willis had 15, and Andrei Martyuk was not so far from triple-double: 15 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists.
Will Lokomotiv Kuban extend their winning streak against the Serbian talent pool? Will they redeem themselves for their inglorious defeat at Megasport today, against Mega? We believe in the team!
Tune in to the live broadcast on our website’s at 8:00 PM – let’s cheer for Loko together.