Whoever wins on Friday, the teams will move a little closer to meeting each other in the quarterfinals once again. If Loko wins, they’ll remain in the hunt for third-place Zenit, while MBA-MAI will settle a bit closer to sixth place if they lose. If the Muscovites prevail, they’ll move closer to fifth place, while our team will almost certainly remain fourth at the end of the regular season.
Loko has won 3 out of 3 games against MBA-MAI this season. Our last encounter was on January 14 in Moscow. After a tied first half, our team went full throttle, and the final score was a solid 107:82. This was Tomislav Tomović‘s first victory as head coach. Alexander Gudumak, who played for us last season, had a good game for MBA-MAI, scoring 15 points. This power forward (pictured left) is prone to minor injuries, but we still hope to see him on the court of the Krasnodar Basket Hall.
Since then, MBA-MAI has played 17 more games. We’ll highlight those that, in our opinion, are a good indicator of what Lokomotiv’s upcoming opponent plays.
Top 4 teams have been an unsolved challenge for the red-and-whites this season: 14 of 14 losses. However, on February 18, they came close to beating CSKA–they overcame a 15-point deficit, had two shots to win in the final seconds of the 4th quarter, and lost dramatically in overtime, 106:109. Vyacheslav Zaitsev scored 21 points, had 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. He’s 9th in the league in assists (4.3).
On the other hand, the Aviators are playing strong against their immediate competitors: on January 25, they defeated BETCITY PARMA for the first time this season, on the road – 79:73, also in overtime. Pavel Savkov had a great game: 26 points, including 10 in the 4th quarter. The shooting guard is second among his team in scoring (10.8) and three-point accuracy (39.6% – 1.6 hits out of 4.1 attempts per game; second only to Gudumak). Savkov‘s plus/minus (+1.6) is the best on the team.
MBA-MAI’s weak point is shooting accuracy: they’re 10th in the league in two-pointers (48.7%) and free throws (73.7%). This sometimes leads to unwanted losses, like the 74:79 loss in Nizhny Novgorod on January 31. Yevgeny Voronov had a strong showing (10 points, 5 assists, 4 steals), but it didn’t help. Incidentally, despite being the oldest player in the league, Voronov (pictured in red) plays 18 minutes a game and leads the team in steals (1.1).
Our opponent leads the league in fouls by a wide margin (25.3). Sometimes this leads to disappointing losses, like the 75:76 home loss to Yenisei on February 10th. Back then, Zaitsev was eliminated early due to an excess of personal fouls, 3 others were tied with 4 fouls, and the Siberians took the clutch, despite a respectable 14 points and two blocks from Maxim Lichutin. MBA-MAI is second in the league in blocks, but they don’t have a clear leader in this stat; everyone, including the nominal point guards Zaitsev and Lichutin, does a bit of blocking.
Between losses to Pari NN and Yenisei, the red-and-whites recorded their biggest victory in the VTB United League – 102:51 in Samara on February 4. Maxim Barashkov fully exposed his sniper talent: 18 of his 25 points that night were 3-pointers. He is the team’s most prolific long-range shooter (5 attempts per game on average), scoring 36.4%.
Just a month apart – on February 22 and March 21 – MBA-MAI defeated Uralmash twice (84:75 away and 93:78 at home), ending their season series with Yekaterinburg undefeated, 4-0. In both of those games, Andrei Zubkov was the clear standout: 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in away game, followed by 27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals in Moscow. The Lokomotiv alum leads his current team in scoring (14.5) and rebounds (6.0), while he’s in the top 3 in assists (2.6) and steals (1.0).
Zubkov was named MVP of the 2025/26 Russian Cup Final Four. For MBA-MAI, this trophy was the first in their 13-year history. In the semifinals on March 13, Vasily Karasev‘s team beat CSKA-2 (85:77), and the final two days later proved a nerve-wracking affair, but they still managed a 68:67 victory over Pari NN.
But before that, on March 7, MBA-MAI defeated BETCITY PARMA again in the championship (78:66), tying the season series at 2-2. Center Sergei Balashov was in the starting five for the first time in a while, and he fully justified the coach’s credence: 22 points and 6 rebounds.
MBA-MAI’s last victory came two weeks ago, in Saratov on March 25, 91:73. Power forward Vladislav Trushkin recorded a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds).
The game will begin at 8:00 PM, and the Basket Hall will open to fans at 6:30 PM. See you there! Go, Loko!