Zenit-2 will play against BARS-RGEU on home court

Zenit-2 continues preparations for the final games of the Fonbet Super League regular season. With two rounds left before the end of the championship, the farm team holds fourth place in the standings, having secured 18 wins and suffered 10 losses. Oliver Popovic's squad will play its last matches before the playoffs on home court.

This Thursday, the blue-whites will host Rostov’s BARS-RGEU, which currently sits in the second-to-last spot in the standings (8 wins, 20 losses). The December matchup between these teams ended in a confident victory for Zenit-2 — 94:81, and in the following round, the Rostov team lost to Grozny’s Dynamo in a tight game — 100:104.

Following that loss, Alexander Sosnin was dismissed as head coach, and Maxim Grigoryev, who had been serving as a player-coach since the start of the season, was appointed as interim head coach. Notably, in recent games against CSKA-2 and Metallurg, Grigoryev appeared on the court as a player for the first time in four months.

After the coaching changes just before the New Year, BARS-RGEU managed to secure three consecutive wins. However, the team then faced another rough stretch, winning only one of their last 11 games — a 71:70 victory over Kupol Rodniki.

During the season, the team's top scorer, Dmitry Doinikov, transferred to Dynamo Vladivostok. In his absence, Rostov's key players have been center Maxim Krivosheev (13 points, 6.7 rebounds) and guard Maxim Tkachenko (11.7 points, 5.1 assists).

Despite their overall record, BARS-RGEU maintains a high offensive output, averaging 77.4 points per game, and ranks second in the Super League in assists, averaging 17.8 per match.

Historically, Zenit-2 has faced BARS-RGEU three times, winning all three encounters.

Head coach Oliver Popovic on the match against Rostov squad:

We have two more steps to take to secure fourth place before the playoffs. The first step is tomorrow’s match against Rostov. We must approach this game with full seriousness, especially on defense. Regardless of other teams' results, we need to win these two home games. I invite all our fans to come and support our guys!

The game will take place on March 20 at the Zenit Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). Tip-off is at 20:00 St. Petersburg time. Admission is free for all fans, and the game will be streamed on the Russian Basketball Federation's website.