Lokomotiv’s previous away win over UNICS (87:75) dates back to December 1, 2024, when our team responded to Marcos Knight‘s 21 points and DeVaughn Acoon-Purcell‘s 13 with 20 points from Antonius Cleveland and 15 from BJ Johnson.
From that very day, Kazan went undefeated at home in the VTB United League regular season until March of this year. We’ll tell you how that happened a little later, but for now, let’s jump ahead a bit, to February 2026.
On February 8th, we played UNICS in Krasnodar and lost in a tumultuous ending, 79:82. At the post-game press conference, UNICS head coach Velimir Perasović harshly criticized his players and even referenced the “Dumb and Dumber” movie.
Four days later, Kazan played a very close game at home against BETCITY PARMA. That night, their center, Jalen Reynolds (30 points), was unstoppable – he scored the decisive dunk in the final seconds to secure the 74:72 victory. Reynolds has been one of the main stars of our league for several years now: at the moment, he is 2nd in the championship in scoring (18.4), 3rd in efficiency (21.8 points), his three-pointer is the best on the team (43% – 1.4 hits out of 3.3 attempts), other key indicators are also at the top level: 5.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.7 blocks.
UNICS then traveled to Bosnia, where on February 17, they secured a spot in the Final Four of the intra-season cup, quite easily defeating Igokea 88:72. Ty Brewer had a strong game: 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals—and this was two days after participating in the All-Star Game dunk contest! The small forward is averaging 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks in 14 games in the VTB United League.
Mikhail Belenitsky was close to a double-double against Igokea—7 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. In the championship, Belenitsky is a regular starter (30 of 30, behind only Bingham more often at 32 of 32), averaging 22.5 minutes per game and posting stats of 5.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks, also fouling more than anyone else on the team—3.3 times per game.
UNICS traveled from Bosnia to Saratov, where they crushed Avtodor 101:65 on February 21. Marcus Bingham showcased every facet of his talent that night: 26 points (including 3/5 three-pointers), 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. The 214-centimeter center leads the league in blocks (1.7), is second only to Alen Hadzibegovic in rebounds (7.4), and shoots 38.9% from the perimeter (1.1 of 2.7), averages 16.5 points per game, and makes 1.4 steals.
But on March 7, UNICS’s regular-season home winning streak was snapped when Zenit arrived and won 82:75. Reynolds‘ efforts (20 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists) weren’t enough for Kazan. And Zenit, as would become clear three weeks later, was gradually becoming a stumbling block for Perasović‘s team.
UNICS quickly bounced back from the loss, pulverizing MBA-MAI on the road on March 10, 89:56. In addition to Bingham (19+7), and Reynolds (16), Alexey Shved was also impressive, with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. During the season, the Russian basketball legend has 9.3 points on 42.9% of his three-pointers (2.0 of 4.7) and 6.4 assists (only Patrick Miller has more in the league).
On March 15, Kazan continued redeeming themselves for Zenit with an 86:80 victory over CSKA. Brewer was the top scorer with 23 points, but the main star of the evening was Ruslan Abdulbasirov. The best Dagestani basketball player of our time played the game of his life against the red-greens: 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. While this center hasn’t played much this season (9.5 minutes per game), he still has some sound stats: 0.8 blocks and a 40% 3-point percentage.
UNICS then traveled to Perm and suffered a 77:80 defeat. The decisive factor was that the visitors scored only 8 points in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, the Tatarstan club lost Paris Lee to injury during the match. Dmitry Kulagin, however, was the best player against BETCITY PARMA, with 18 points and 8 assists (his season averages are 9.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.1 steals in 27 minutes).
On March 22, Yenisei visited Kazan and lost 73:87. In the absence of Shved and Lee, Denis Zakharov (in the next photo) played 27 minutes and scored 14 points (3.2 points, 0.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 0.6 steals this season). Forward DyShawn Pierre was out due to injury; we’re unlikely to see him, as well as Lee, against Lokomotiv. Still, we might see Shved.
To improve the situation with injured ligionnaires (UNICS previously waived C.J. Bryce, who is out until the summer), our opponent signed a new player – shooting guard Xavier Manford. His previous club was Hapoel Holon, where Manford averaged 13.7 points on 47.7% three-point shooting and 3.4 assists in the current Champions League campaign. Whether we’ll see him in action on Sunday remains to be seen, but usually, logistical and transfer matters aren’t resolved so quickly. For example, Brewer, who had arrived in Russia days before the Lokomotiv vs UNICS game on January 4, was present, but wasn’t registered on the roster.
As expected, we haven’t seen Manford on March 26, when UNICS played Zenit again at home – and lost again. This time, it was the intra-season cup game, the final one of the group stage. To reach the Final Four, St. Petersburg needed only a win, while Kazan needed no more than a 17-point deficit to retain first place in the group. Both teams accomplished their goals, even though Zenit twice led by 20+. Andrei Lopatin‘s performance deserves special mention – the UNICS forward scored 15 points. His league averages include 7.3 points on 42.9% three-point shooting (1.2 of 2.8), 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.3 blocks, while his plus/minus (+9.7) ranks third on the team.
What’s the standings like? UNICS (28-5) is second, two wins behind CSKA (30-3). It could even be counted as three wins behind, since with an equal record of wins and losses, the Moscow team would have the advantage in score difference in their head-to-head matches.
Lokomotiv-Kuban (23-11) continues to chase third-place Zenit (24-10). BETCITY PARMA (19-16) can only catch us if a number of factors come together, most of which are unlikely. So if we want to move up, we need to, at a minimum, do what Zenit has already managed: beat UNICS on the road. Although it won’t be easy: our opponent leads the league in six stats: two-point accuracy (56.7%), free throw accuracy (78.8%), rebounds (38.7), assists (22.1), blocks (4.2) and the fewest fouls (19.2).
The game starts at 6:00 PM Moscow time. Go, Loko!