Zenit vs Pari Nizhny Novgorod. Preview

The blue-whites complete a series of home games with a meeting with Pari NN. Nizhny Novgorod residents made a lot of noise last weekend and are going to St. Petersburg in a great mood, and we are waiting for another bright match of the regular season.

Context

In their last game of the VTB United League regular season, Sergey Kozin’s team pulled off a major upset by defeating CSKA in a thriller, with a final score of 77:75. They came back from a 12 point deficit, and Aubrey Dawkins secured the win with a dramatic shot just moments before the buzzer.

The Volga team has started the season well, losing only to Uralmash at home. Since last season, Pari NN has retained just a few players — Khvostov, Shepherd, Zotkin, Baburin, Gankevich and Chadov — but despite this large-scale rebuild, they’ve shown impressive improvement. They currently share four wins with both CSKA and Zenit, and this upcoming match will help clarify the standings.

A potential headache for the guards of the blue-whites may be the author of the game winner in the match with CSKA Aubrey Dawkins, who got into the symbolic top five last week. The forward scores 14.2 points and makes 3.4 rebounds on average per game with 72.7% accuracy from the middle line and 44% from behind the arc — the second highest figures in the team.

Pari NN ranks second in two-point shooting accuracy at 55.9%, just behind Chavi Pascual’s team at 56.6%. However, they struggle with free throws, converting only 60.5% of their attempts.

Against CSKA, Kozin's team set a season record with 23 offensive rebounds. Over five games, they lead the league in average steals per game, with 11.

Connections

Over the years, Andrey Vorontsevich, Denis Zakharov and Georgy Zhbanov have all played for the Nizhny Novgorod club. Currently, Zenit Basketball Academy forward Artem Antipov is playing on loan for Pari NN. In four games, he has averaged 2.8 points and 3 rebounds in just over 11 minutes per game.

Head-to-head

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Russian Cup final last spring, where Zenit won 64:55. In the VTB United League, the clubs have met 26 times, and there is a tangible superiority of the blue-whites: 18 wins against 8 for the Volga team. In the EuroCup, the score is equal — 2:2 — and only home wins.

Quotes

The head coach of St. Petersburg Xavi Pascual shared his expectations ahead of the match against Pari Nizhny Novgorod:

First of all, we play again at home after the match against Loko that we couldn't win. So, we have to play a good game. We are going to play against one very serious team, they are making a very good season also. So, we have to take a step for the opponent, for the coach, for the good job that they are doing. And we will try to come back to the wins but mainly what we will try to do is to improve in all the parts of the court defensively and offensively.

Who. Where. When. 

Opponent: Pari Nizhny Novgorod

Location: CSC Arena, St. Petersburg

Date: October 9, 19:30 (local time)

Broadcast: Okko Sport, VTB United League website, Start

Tickets are available on tickets.bc-zenit.com.