The youth team of Zenit is set for an away series against PARMA-M

The Zenit youth team continues its January away series. This time, Roman Knyazev’s players are heading to Perm, where they will face two games against their neighbors in the standings.

PARMA-M, like the St. Petersburg team, has 18 wins but has played two more games. Right now, Zenit U21 is in 4th place in the VTB United Youth League, while the Ural team sits in 5th.

In the last round, Anton Kataev’s team hosted MBA-MAI-Junior on their home court. After winning the first game (78:65), the Perm team lost the second one (64:83).

PARMA-M is the highest-scoring team in the league (82.4 points per game) with the best two-point shooting accuracy (50.9%). Zenit’s accuracy is slightly lower — 50.2%.

The key players for the hosts this season are guard Ivan Egorov (18.8 points + 4.6 assists + 4.2 rebounds + 2.1 steals), center Gleb Firsov (16.7 points + 12.2 rebounds + 1.8 assists + 1 steal + 0.7 blocks) and forward Lev Svinin (14.2 points + 4.3 rebounds + 2.5 assists + 2 steals + 0.8 blocks).

The teams have faced each other 36 times in the VTB United Youth League, with Zenit U21 winning 27 of those matchups and the Ural team winning 9.

Zenit U21’s head coach Roman Knyazev spoke about the games against PARMA-M:

January is a very busy month for us. We spent a couple of days at home, tried to recover, and fix some aspects of our game. Unfortunately, our big men won’t be able to help us. What’s most disappointing is the progress they made in the first half of the season. I really hope that the guys won’t lose what they’ve gained. On the positive side, every negative moment provides an opportunity for growth, and we will definitely grow and become stronger even with this roster.

The matches will take place on January 19 and 20 at the "Pobeda" sports complex. Both games will start at 10:00 St. Petersburg time. The broadcasts will be available on the VTB United Youth League website.