MBA-MAI vs Zenit. Preview
This Thursday the blue-whites will meet MBA-MAI on their home court. Xavi Pascual's team started the season with a game against the them, and now we are smoothly approaching a third of the way through the regular season.
Context
After 13 rounds, the Moscow team has managed only 3 wins and currently sits second to last in the league standings. On a positive note, they secured successive victories on the road — 63:76 in Astana and 68:76 in Saratov.
Problems in the MBA-MAI game are glaring, even if you just look at the VTB United League stats. The Moscow team have some of the worst shooting (40%), rebounding (35 per game) and steals (5.8). However, MBA is among the top three in blocked shots — 3.4. Only Zenit (4.5) and Loko (4.7) have more.
Connections
Moscow’s team is led by head coach Vasily Karasev for the third consecutive season, with Sergey Vozniuk assisting him, a former member of Xavi Pascual's coaching staff.
Hosts squad also features a roster rich with familiar names to St. Petersburg fans: Andrey Zubkov, Evgeny Voronov, Vladislav Trushkin, Egor Sorokin, Ivan Belousov and Danil Pevnev.
Head-to-head
The upcoming game will mark the 12th meeting in the history of the rivalry between these two teams. Currently, Zenit holds a confident lead with 9 wins to MBA-MAI's 2.
Quotes
Zenit's head coach Xavi Pascual shared his thoughts ahead of the game in Moscow:
In this November all the games left we have to play away. So, first of all, we have to have the good mentality for this game, to play good basketball. We know that, especially at home, they play very fresh. They run very well in transition. Also, they read very well all the situations. It's one team with a lot of players that I like very much. It's going to be difficult to win, so we have to be ready for a difficult game and to do our best if we want to do it.
Who. Where. When.
Opponent: MBA-MAI
Location: Basket Hall, Moscow
Date: November 14, 19:30 (St. Petersburg time)
Broadcast: VTB United League website, Okko Sport, Start
