Zenit's youth team is heading to Nizhny Novgorod

The Blue-White-Sky Blues youth team is heading for a back-to-back away trip to Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, ready to play the final games before the two-week break in the regular season. On February 17 and 18, Roman Knyazev’s team will face NN-Meshchersky, with both games starting at 12:00 Saint Petersburg time. Here’s everything you need to know about the next round of the VTB United Youth League.

The home team currently sits 5th in the standings, having secured 23 wins in 38 games. Zenit U21 has played two fewer games and continues to hold 2nd place with 32 victories.

Throughout the season, Nizhny Novgorod-Meshchersky has shown strong play and has fought hard in every match, including against the league leaders. In the last two rounds, the Volga team also played at home: they defeated Astana Zhastar twice (95:48 and 79:72) and lost to MBA-MAI-Junior (62:81 and 64:73).

Ilya Rodionov’s squad ranks among the top five highest-scoring teams in the league (73.0 points per game) and has one of the best three-point shooting percentages (29.8%). The leader of Nizhny Novgorod and key player is Kirill Belov. This season, the 19-year-old point guard has participated in all the team’s matches, averaging 12.2 points and 3.7 assists per game.

The head-to-head matchup between Zenit U21 and NN-Meshchersky in the first round in Saint Petersburg ended with two victories for the Blue-White-Sky Blues squad — 68:62 and 74:55.

Forward Timur Ivanov highlighted the key points ahead of the confrontation with the Volga team:

In the upcoming games against Nizhny Novgorod, the main priority is to show strong defense, cover their main shooters, and stop the fast break. Our team is in good physical condition, everyone is focused on winning, so we will do everything possible to achieve a positive result.

The games will be broadcast on the VTB United Youth League website and on VK Video.