The teams have already met twice this season, and the home team won each time. On November 9, Lokomotiv delighted 6,000 fans with an 89:80 victory, but it’s worth noting that Zenit was missing 5 starters due to injury that time. On December 17, in St. Petersburg, the hosts executed revenge, inflicting a crushing 98:69 defeat on us.
Since then, Alexander Sekulić‘s team has played 5 more games, all with mixed results: an away defeat to UNICS (75:88), a crushing home victory over Igokea in the intra-season cup (103:72), road wins of varying degrees of confidence against BETCITY-PARMA (85:77) and Avtodor (75:62), and finally, a big upset at home against Pari NN (89:99).
Zenit currently ranks 3rd in the standings with 13 wins and 7 losses. Lokomotiv is 14-8 and 5th. A victory over the St. Petersburg club would result in a position switch (BETCITY-PARMA will remain 4th regardless).
Comparing to the teams’ previous game, our opponent’s roster lacks Nenad Dimitrijević—the Macedonian point guard was loaned to Bayern Munich. Xavier Moon was signed in as a replacement, but he’s very unlikely to join the team in time for Sunday. Also, center Noah Vonleh has missed the previous 3 games and is currently on the St. Petersburg club’s injured list.
However, even when Vonleh was fit, Andrei Martyuk remained Zenit’s starting center. The Lokomotiv alumnus is averaging 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds (2nd in the league), 1.0 assists, and 0.9 blocks this season.
Luka Šamanić caused major problems for Lokomotiv’s front line in a December game. The Croatian center played 10 times for the Neva club in the championship, scoring 12.5 points on 35.3% long-range shooting, averaging 4.7 rebounds and 0.7 blocks. Opponents foul him more often than any other Zenit player – 4.3 times per game.
Our opponent’s leader in playing time (27.19) and scoring (15.2) is shooting guard Levi Randolph. He shoots 3-pointers with almost the same accuracy as 2-pointers (47.5% and 47.6%, respectively), averages 2.2 assists, and is second only to Vonleh in box plus/minus (+7.0).
Point guard Trent Frazier is 2nd on his team in points (14.5) and steals (1.1), 1st in assists (4.5) and 3-point attempts per game (6.1), which he converts at a grandmaster’s percentage of 46.2%.
Power forward Andre Roberson has been a consistent starter in the previous 3 games. In total, he has played 4 times this season, averaging 5.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks.
And, of course, we can’t omit the play of another one of our graduates: guard Vladislav Yemchenko leads Zenit in steals (1.3), averages 8.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.2 steals, while also shooting 3-pointers at an All-Star level of 55.6%. This statistic places him 2nd in the league among players who attempt more than one long-range shot per game, trailing only our guy Vsevolod Ishchenko (55.6%).
We’re waiting for you in the stands at Basket Hall! Please be aware of the traffic conditions and start with enough time to arrive.
Go, Loko!