Sometimes life throws us scenarios that, if pitched to a Hollywood producer, would likely be dismissed as “too unrealistic” (though Bollywood would probably snatch it up).
Last season, Lokomotiv’s semifinal against Zenit became, dare we say it, the most explosive matchup of the year. The intensity became so hot that there was no doubt: next season, Vince Hunter and Andrei Martyuk would continue to fight tooth and nail, while Vladislav Yemchenko and Dmitry Uzinsky would give everything they can for their team’s victory at the Basket Hall. Apparently, that’s exactly what will happen on November 9th. But, as the great commander Vasily Chapayev said, there is a nuance.
The current situation would have seemed even more surprising to a Lokomotiv fan in May 2023: “What do you mean, Sekulić is at Zenit? And Shcherbenev too?!” Yes, our dear friend from 2 1/2 years ago. They’re all now in Saint Petersburg, as are Jurica Žuža, Martyuk, Yemchenko, Uzinsky, and the as-yet-unknown-for-you assistant coach Jernej Valentinčič.
As if that weren’t enough, fate has decided to throw us another curveball. The entire quartet of our recent players is currently quite literally defining Zenit’s play.
How did this happen? This summer, eager to finally win the VTB United League in honor of their 10th anniversary, the St. Petersburg team, as they love to do, built up a roster that would make even the Euroleague’s Top 4 teams afraid.
With all due respect to our alumni and former captains, they weren’t exactly leading players at Zenit at the beginning of the season. But a couple of weeks ago, the Peterburgian team was hit by a rash of injuries: Alex Poythress (may he become well!) is out for the rest of the season, and Nenad Dimitrijević, Levi Randolph, Andre Roberson, and Georgy Zhbanov are out with no clear date of return. Zenit urgently acquired Croatian national team power forward Luka Šamanić, but if he makes it to his new team in time for our game, it will be a true logistical and administrative miracle.
So, in the previous 2 games, Zenit played with a 10-man rotation: 4 former Lokomotiv players, Andrei Vorontsevich, Sergei Karasev, Trent Frazier, and a trio of juniors (center Ilya Krivykh, forwards Mikhail Dulkaj and Pavel Zemsky).
In other words, if someone sent our players off to St. Petersburg with the words, “Well, well, let’s see how you play there,” then now an ideal (one might say, spherical in a vacuum) situation has arisen to actually see how they play there.
Judging by the results, it could have been better: a week ago, Zenit lost for the second time in their history against Yenisei (78:83), and then suffered a loss in front of home fans against UNICS in the intra-season cup (74:91).
Let’s go through the individual stats.
Andrei Martyuk is now essentially Zenit’s only remaining center. In 8 VTB United League games, he averaged 10.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks. In 2 intra-season cup games, he averaged 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks.
Vladislav Yemchenko is confidently taking the leading role: in league games, he’s averaging 11.3 points (on a fantastic 55.6% 3-point accuracy), along with 2.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.8 steals, and a team-leading plus/minus (+9.5). He’s been equally impressive in the intra-season cup: 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and in plus/minus (+11.5), he’s second only to Roberson (+27) and Zhbanov (+20), who have played a game fewer.
Alexander Shcherbenev is proving he’s a force to be reckoned with when given playing time: 8.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 0.8 steals in the league and 9.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.0 steals in the intra-season tournament. Incidentally, both players who have ever won the “Best Athlete of Kuban” award now play for Zenit: Shcherbenev won in 2023, and Martyuk in 2024.
Dmitry Uzinsky‘s stat line this season is 2.3 points + 1.9 rebounds + 0.4 assists + 0.3 steals in the league and 0 points + 1.0 rebounds + 1.0 assists + 0.5 steals in the Winline Basket Cup.
Trent Frazier can definitely be called the leader of the decimated Zenit team. The point guard is taking full advantage of the opportunity to show that he’s capable of tugging a contender, averaging 12.0 assists and 4.0 assists in the league and 22.0 assists and 4.0 assists in the intra-season cup, where his 3-point accuracy is an impressive 57.1% (4.0 of 7.0 attempts).
Eternal (this is his 20th season at the top level!) Andrei Vorontsevich leads Zenit in VTB United League minutes (almost 27 minutes), averaging 8.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks. In the Winline Basket Cup, he’s playing slightly less than only Frazier, averaging 6.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals.
Zenit captain Sergei Karasev is performing statistics on par with Uzinsky: 2.5 points + 4.0 rebounds + 2.0 assists in the league, 0 points + 3.0 rebounds + 1.0 assists + 1.0 steals in the Winline Basket Cup.
Let’s recap: on Sunday, a stalled locomotive and a wounded lion meet at Basket Hall. Both teams are currently tied for 4th-5th place in the standings, and a win could give the winner the impetus to surge upward, while a defeat would hit an additional blow to morale. Losing 3 games in a row is unacceptable in both Krasnodar and St. Petersburg. If this isn’t the most exciting game of autumn, then what is?!
So don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this game. Let’s do it like we did the last playoffs: come to Basket Hall and give such a blast from the stands that our team will soar forward on wings and our opponents will faint. After all, Lokomotiv isn’t just the players, it’s also you, the fans. Your support always helps the team through difficult times, and now it’s exactly the time to do so. Let the victory be ours, and let others deal with the consequences of defeat.
Go, Loko! We mean, go, red-greens!
