MBA-MAI vs Zenit. Preview

The blue-whites team is heading to Moscow for a match against MBA-MAI as part of the 41st round of the VTB United League regular season. Here’s everything you need to know about tomorrow’s game.

Context

In the last round of the regular season, Vasiliy Karasev’s team finally broke their losing streak, which had lasted for almost all of March. After losses to Avtodor, PARMA, CSKA and Uralmash, the Moscow team managed to secure a long-awaited victory — 75:61 in a home game against Astana.

At the moment, the home team sits in 9th place in the standings with 14 wins and 26 losses.

MBA-MAI’s undisputed leader remains Andrey Zubkov. The forward averages 14.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game — second-best in the league. In the recent game against Astana, he recorded a double-double (18 points + 15 rebounds) and also moved into first place for the most games with 15+ rebounds this season (he now has three such games).

Head-to-head

This season, Zenit has dominated the matchup, winning all three previous encounters. The overall head-to-head record stands at 11:2 in favor of the St. Petersburg team.

Quotes

Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual on the game against MBA-MAI:

One game that comes only after three days of the big battle against CSKA, so always this is dangerous. So we assume that it's going to be a difficult game, that we will need to play on a good level, with good concentration, with good level of energy. And we have to continue because this game is important as it was the previous one.

Who. Where. When. 

Opponent: MBA-MAI

Location: Basket Hall, Moscow

Date: April 3, 19:00 (St. Petersburg time)

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