With 11 losses in 11 games, Samara currently sits in 11th place. They have an 11-day break before their game against us, as their last game was on November 11th (they lost 67:99 to UNICS). That game capped Samara’s two-week road trip, during which, after their 84:101 loss to Lokomotiv, they also lost to MBA-MAI (87:95), Uralmash (72:79), and Yenisei (78:90).
Their starting five remains the same for a long time. The star of this lineup is shooting guard Nikita Mikhailovsky. He still leads the league in scoring (21.6 points), but in rebounds (7.5), he’s been surpassed by Avtodor’s Alen Hadzibegovic (8.0), putting him in a tie for 2nd-4th place with Marcus Bingham and Andrei Martyuk. The Samara star also has 2.6 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.4 blocks, and 7.1 opponent fouls per game this season.
Power forward Dmitry Cheburkin is 2nd in the league in scoring (19.4 points). He shoots 3-pointers at an impressive 41.7% (2.8 of 6.7 attempts per game), grabs 4.8 rebounds, makes 1.0 assists, and 0.6 steals.
Another league Top-10 player in Samara is their center Yevgeny Minchenko – in terms of rebounds (6.2, 9th in the tournament). He also averages 7.1 points, 0.5 assists, and 0.6 blocks.
Point guard Artyom Chevarenkov leads his team in assists (4.6), scores 40.7% of 3-pointers (1.0 of 2.5 attempts) for 8.6 points, and also adds 2.0 rebounds, 0.6 steals, and, notably, 0.1 blocks.
Completing the Volga team’s starting five is small forward Gleb Sheiko, who has 5.8 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.
Considering Lokomotiv Kuban’s roster issues, the game against Samara will definitely not be a cakewalk. We believe our players understand this and will play with confidence and discipline.
As a reminder, the match kicks off at 6:30 PM Moscow time. Go, Loko!