Enisey vs Zenit. Preview

Xavi Pascual’s team is heading for their third consecutive away game. Ahead lies a flight of over four hours before Zenit arrives in Krasnoyarsk. The match against Enisey is part of the 39th round of the VTB United League regular season. Here’s a closer look at tomorrow’s matchup.

Context

Since our last meeting, things haven’t been going too well for Enisey. After losing in St. Petersburg (83:76), the team secured a solid win in Samara (74:86), but otherwise, they have struggled with a tough schedule — facing teams like Avtodor, MBA, Loko, Nizhny and CSKA. However, in their recent home games, Jovica Arsic’s squad found their rhythm and clinched two consecutive victories, breaking a five-game losing streak.

Their win over Astana came relatively easily (92:62), but against PARMA, they had to fight hard. Trailing by 13 points in the first quarter, Enisey managed to turn the game around and claim a 79:73 victory. The key to success was their solid defense in the closing minutes and aggressive pressing throughout the match, forcing PARMA into 17 turnovers.

The hosts have a deep roster with strong individual talent. In the game against PARMA, guard Timofey Gerasimov recorded his third career double-double (24 points + 10 assists) and set a personal best in steals (6). Over the season, the former Zenit player ranks among the league’s top assist leaders (5.7 assists per game) and sits 11th in scoring (14.4 points).

Another strength of Enisey is their offensive rebounding. Rebounding specialists Sergey Balashov (2.2 offensive rebounds per game) and Sergey Dolinin (1.9) rank fourth and fifth in the league in this category.

Head-to-head

The only victory Enisey has ever secured against Zenit came in February last year on their home court. The overall record stands at 27:1 in favor of the blue-whites.

Quotes

Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual shared his thoughts before the game:

It's going to be one difficult game. As always I'm talking about Enisey, it has an excellent coach, who's taking the best of all the teams that he coached and all the players that he coached. And it's one team that doesn't make mistakes. They play very well basketball defensively and offensively. It's very, very good tactical organization on both sides of the court and we will need to play one solid game if we want to win.

Who. Where. When. 

Opponent: Enisey

Location: Arena Sever, Krasnoyarsk

Date: March 26, 15:30 St. Petersburg time

Broadcast: Match! Strana, Okko Sport, VTB League website, Start TV