Zenit U21 will play against Avtodor-2 in the VTB United Youth League
Saratov team started the new Youth League draw with crushing defeats against CSKA-Junior on the road (87:32 and 79:47). However, this result says nothing about the level of preparation of the black-whites, who, as we know from previous seasons, are ready to surprise at any moment.
This summer Avtodor-2 was headed by a young Russian specialist Arseny Metreveli, who previously served as the head coach of the Runa youth team. The first serious test for the new coaching staff and the updated squad was the preliminary stage of the Russian Cup. As part of the competition, Saratov met with Bryansk Desna, BC Moskovsky and TSSP-Khimki, but did not win a single victory. This week it became known that in one of the Cup games, the leader of the Avtodor-2, Alexander Domyutsa, suffered a cruciate ligament injury and will not be able to help his team at the start of the season.
The coach of the St. Petersburg youth team Roman Knyazev gave a comment before the match:
We don't have much time to prepare for the next opponent. We tried to take into account the points that will help improve our game and analyze the strengths of the opponent over these couple of days. We hope that our younger squad will impose a high tempo of the game, which will be difficult for the opponent to cope with.
Both meetings with Saratov will be held at the Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). On October 11, the game will begin at 21:00, and on October 12 — at 18:00 St. Petersburg time. The video broadcast will be available on the website of the VTB United Youth League.
