Zenit youth team heads to Minsk

The Zenit U21 is preparing to play against MINSK-M on the road. The matches with the Belarusian team will take place as part of the next round of the VTB United Youth League.

Overall, MINSK-M has been performing well this season, showing consistent results with 20 wins and 20 losses, which places them in seventh place in the standings. With 8 games left in the regular season, Dmitry Koltunov’s team has almost secured a spot in the playoffs.

The absolute leader of the hosts is Vitaliy Duchko. The forward has played in all 40 regular-season games, averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds (the second-best rebound rate in the League).

In the first round in St. Petersburg, the two teams exchanged victories (79:56 and 62:74). These two games were the first-ever meetings between the youth teams of Zenit and MINSK.

Zenit U21 head coach Roman Knyazev shared his expectations for the upcoming games:

Our final away trip of the regular season is ahead. These games are very important in preparation for the knockout stages. The guys showed good quality during preparation. I expect that we’ll be able to carry our work over to the games and avoid the mistakes we made earlier.

The matches will take place on March 24 and 25 at the Minsk sports complex. Both games will begin at 14:00 St. Petersburg time. The broadcasts will be available on the VTB United Youth League website.