Lokomotiv Kuban vs Zenit. Preview
Opponent
The first meeting of the season between St. Petersburg’s Zenit and Krasnodar’s Lokomotiv Kuban in the 2025/26 campaign is drawing great interest from fans and neutral spectators alike. Both teams significantly updated their rosters over the summer. Each also has a new head coach: Anton Yudin previously coached Zenit’s farm team, while Aleksander Sekuliс led the red-greens to the VTB United League finals. Former Zenit player Vince Hunter now plays for Loko, while the Blue-White-Sky Blues feature several ex-Lokomotiv players — Vladislav Emchenko, Dmitry Uzinskiy, Andrey Martiuk, and Alexander Shcherbenev. With these storylines in place, the teams meet again for the first time since last year’s fiery semifinal series.
Zenit and Lokomotiv Kuban are neighbors in the standings. At the moment, Anton Yudin’s team sits in fifth place in the regular season, with 5 wins in 8 games. The St. Petersburg side is one position higher — fourth — ahead thanks to a better point differential.
In addition, both teams boast the league’s best rebounding numbers (37.5 per game), while the Krasnodar team also leads the league in steals (9.4 per game).
Just like last season, Lokomotiv’s most productive player is Patrick Miller. On average, the American guard scores 15.8 points, 6.8 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 28 minutes per game in the VTB League.
Head-to-head
The rivalry’s history already includes 43 games: Zenit has 23 wins, while Lokomotiv Kuban has 20.
Direct speech
Zenit head coach Aleksander Sekulic on the upcoming away game against Loko:
We are coming to a team that is playing, especially at home, good basketball. There were some unlucky losses. They have good players, they have good support from the fans, so we can expect a big fight especially now when we are struggling a little bit. We have to bring some extra energy to the game. Be more focused and to limit the bad moments which happens now very often to limit them to the minimum.
Who. Where. When.
Opponent: Lokomotiv Kuban
Location: Basket Hall, Krasnodar
Date: November 9, 14:00 (St. Petersburg time)
Broadcast: Okko Sport, Match TV, Match! Igra, VTB United League website, VK Video
