Zenit’s youth team to host MINSK-M

Zenit U21 returns to its home court and is preparing for the next round of the VTB United Youth League regular season. The games against MINSK-M will take place on December 8 at 13:00 and December 9 at 14:00. Both matches will be held at the Blue-White-Sky Blues Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). Admission is free!

At the moment, the St. Petersburg team is in 2nd place in the standings, trailing Moscow’s MBA-MAI-Junior only by point difference. Zenit U21 has 17 wins in 18 games, including a 15-game winning streak.

Unlike the St. Petersburg team, the Belarusian side has played two more games and currently sits in 8th place with an even record of 10 wins and 10 losses.

In the last two rounds before the national team break, MINSK-M played away on the Volga in Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, bringing home one win from each trip: 74:61 in the second game against NN-Meshchersky and 83:64 in the first game against UNICS-2.

Overall this season, the Belarusians rank among the League’s top five in scoring (73.2 points per game) and in two-point shooting accuracy (49.5%). The visitors also feature one of the tournament’s best early-season shooters — David-Masenge Mukete. On average per game, the MINSK-M guard posts 15.2 points (top 3 in the League), 4.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists (top 5 in the League).

Throughout the history of the VTB United Youth League, the teams have faced each other four times: three wins for the Blue-White-Sky Blues, one for Minsk.

Zenit U21 forward Ivan Vasiliev shared his expectations for the round and spoke about how the national team break went:

The two-week break went great — we had solid training cycles, and everyone managed to recover ahead of the upcoming games. MINSK-M is a good team that will put up a fight. We, in turn, are fully prepared and focused solely on winning.

The game broadcasts will be available on the VTB United Youth League website and on VK Video.