Last time, the Krasnodar airport was closed for more than a day, and the Nizhny Novgorod team, unable to arrive earlier due to their participation in the Russian Cup Final Four, simply couldn’t get here in time. But this time, everything is okay, and the game will take place.
Both teams featured have their own tournament goals for the remainder of the regular season. Lokomotiv still has a chance to overtake Zenit – to do so, they need to win all 3 of their games and expect the St. Petersburg team to lose both to CSKA and UNICS.
Pari NN can still make it to the playoffs–to do so, they, like us, need to win all their remaining games and hope for a losing streak for Yenisei. Therefore, the loss on Sunday is heavily undesired by both opponents.
Lokomotiv looks like the favorite in this matchup, because we’ve won all of our previous games against Pari NN this season. Our most recent victory came on February 4th, when we were losing 46:51 after halftime, but we took the lead towards the end of the 3rd quarter and ultimately secured a quite convincing 102:82 victory. The only Nizhny player with a positive plus/minus that evening was Ilya Platonov (+9, due to his 13 points and 3 of 4 three-pointers). In general, this small forward is second-to-last in plus/minus on the current Pari NN roster this season (–7.2, behind only Norbert Lukacs). Platonov plays a lot (23 minutes per game), but his stats aren’t dazzling: 6.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.4 steals.
Since then, the Volga team played their next game on February 8th–at home against BETCITY PARMA–and suffered a heavy defeat, 62:87. Even Yevgeny Baburin‘s 14 points (with 4 three-pointers out of 7 attempts), 4 rebounds, and 5 assists were not enough. After Kirill Popov‘s departure for Uralmash, Baburin remains the Nizhny team’s main long-range shooter, with a 40.7% percentage (2.4 out of 5.9 attempts). This allows the shooting guard, who Lokomotiv fans still remember fondly for his two seasons in Krasnodar from 2016 to 2018, to average 8.6 points per game.
On February 18, Pari NN improved its standings a bit by defeating Samara 94:87 on the road. Norbert Lukács, the only foreign player remaining on our opponent’s roster, tied for the team’s top scorer (21 points each) that night with Ilya Karpenkov. This season, the Hungarian small forward is averaging 9.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.0 steals—ranking third on his team in each of these stats—and leading all remaining players in blocks (0.6).
Three days later, Nizhny Novgorod suffered its heaviest defeat this spring – 77:106 in Krasnoyarsk. Among the bright spots were the performances of Platonov, who again was one of the few Pari NN players with a positive plus/minus (+4), and Timofey Yakushin (10 points with 2 three-pointers, 3 assists). After joining from BETCITY PARMA midseason, Yakushin (pictured in white) played 9 games for Pari NN, averaging 4.2 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 15 minutes.
On March 6, Sergei Kozin‘s team hosted CSKA and played pretty well, not letting the ruling champions’ attack score much at 62:78. That game marked the VTB United League debut of Timofey Samoylenko, our guard Ivan‘s middle brother. Since then, Timofey has accumulated four league games, one point, and one rebound—but we all understand that this is just the beginning for the 16-year-old.
After a close 67:72 home defeat to Uralmash, Pari NN traveled to Vladivostok to play in the 2025/26 Russian Cup Final Four on March 13 and 15. The semifinal against Dynamo Primorye was a sight to behold: two overtimes and a 97:93 victory for the Volga team. Alexander Khomenko posted a double-double (21+12). In the VTB United League, the point guard is also one of the team’s leaders: 10 points per game, 3.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals, and 4.7 fouls against him by opponents.
The Russian Cup final was also thrilling, but MBA-MAI won 68-67. So, it’s unlikely that Pari NN’s starting center, Ilya Karpenkov, was pleased with his double-double (14+10). If you had to choose one player to lead the current Nizhny Novgorod roster, it’s hard to rule out Karpenkov – he leads the team in scoring (11.6), rebounding (5.7), being good in assisting (2.0), stealing (0.5), and even shooting threes (37.0% with 0.3 of 0.8 per game).
Next came the cancelled game against us, and then, on March 22, Samara arrived to Nizhny Novgorod and gave the hosts a good fight, though they ultimately lost 75:80. Pari NN center Kirill Popov was unstoppable, scoring 35 points. However, the next day, he transferred to Uralmash, so let’s move on to the next point.
On March 29, Pari NN won their second game in a row and continued their race for a playoff spot: in Saratov, they overcame Avtodor 77:73, after 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter. The Volgans were led by another player who is still remembered fondly in Krasnodar: Dmitry Khvostov (16 points, 4 assists that evening). In total, the 36-year-old point guard is averaging 5.7 points, 1.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 0.4 steals in 19.5 minutes per game this season.
And on April 1st, the Volga team’s third consecutive victory followed – 77:72 in Yekaterinburg. Uralmash was leading 70:62 midway through the 4th quarter, but then their opponents became unstoppable. This was thanks, among other things, to the inspired play of Daniil Klyuchenkov, who was loaned from CSKA midseason: the power forward added 7 rebounds and 3 steals to his 16 points, and in 11 games with Pari NN, he has 7.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks.
On April 5, Zenit arrived in Nizhny Novgorod and took home a hard-fought victory, 88:72. Lukacs scored 21 points for the hosts, and 22-year-old point guard Sergei Zotkin had one of his best games as a senior: 15 points and 3 assists.
Pari NN travels to Krasnodar from Moscow, where they lost to MBA-MAI 85-92 in a tense clutch on April 8. Karpenkov was great that night (30 points and 4 rebounds, all on offense), but we’ve already covered him in detail, so let’s highlight another player: Zakhar Lavrenov, also on loan from CSKA (or rather, from CSKA-2), made his debut for the Volga team. The 20-year-old center played 5 minutes, scored 2 points, and grabbed 1 rebound, but more is sure to come.
The game starts at 5:00 PM, and the Basket Hall will open to spectators at 3:30 PM. See you in the arena! Go, Loko!