The blue-whites youth team will play in Nizhny Novgorod

Zenit U21 is heading into the next round of the VTB United Youth League regular season at the top of the standings. Over the next two days, Roman Knyazev’s team faces challenging away games against peers from Pari Nizhny Novgorod Junior.

In their most recent match, the Nizhny Novgorod team handed Moscow’s army team their first defeat of the season, pushing the blue-whites into the lead. Currently, Zenit U21 and CSKA Junior have an equal record of wins and losses, but Zenit holds the top spot due to a better point difference. That Sunday game in Nizhny Novgorod ended with a score of 59:57 in favor of the Volga side, but the suspense lasted until the final buzzer.

A key player for the hosts in the matchup against CSKA Junior was Georgy Shilokhvostov. The forward was not only the game’s top scorer (22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals) but also clinched the victory in the last minute with a drive to the basket and a successful free throw.

Overall, Pari Nizhny Novgorod Junior has had a consistent start to the season, with only 3 losses in 10 games. At present, Ilya Rodionov’s team stands at fifth place in the standings.

Throughout their years of competition in the Youth League, the teams have faced each other 41 times, with Zenit U21 emerging victorious in 25 of these encounters. The citizen meanwhile, remain at 16 wins, as blue-whites has won the last six head-to-head games.

The matches are scheduled for November 6 and 7 at the Tishin Sports Academy in Nizhny Novgorod, both starting at 20:00 St. Petersburg time. The games will be broadcast on the VTB United Youth League website.