Zenit U21 begins a series of home games
Roman Knyazev’s team is set to play a series of games on their home court. This week, the youth team of the blue-whites will host MINSK-M and TSSP-Khimki-2 as part of the VTB United Youth League regular season.
Tomorrow, the Zenit U21 players will face the Minsk team in their first match. The visitors have been performing steadily this season and come into this matchup with three consecutive victories, currently being on 8th place in the standings. In the recent Youth League games they secured two road wins against Lokomotiv Kuban-2 with scores of 63:69 and 63:64.
The top scorer for MINSK-M, Vitaly Duchko, averages 10.4 points and 1.8 assists per game. Moreover, the forward ranks in the top two players of the league for rebounds — 8.2.
These upcoming matches will mark the first-ever face-off between these two teams.
Meanwhile, during the weekend, the Saint Petersburg team will face one of the regular season leaders, TSSP-Khimki-2. The team from Moscow region has achieved 13 victories in 16 games this season and currently holds 2nd place in the VTB United Youth League.
On December 8 and 9, Roman Pakhnyuk’s squad secured two victories against CSKA-Junior on the latter’s home court and will have a four-day rest before facing Zenit U21. One of Khimki’s standout players in these games was Alexander Konotop. Guard's average stats for the season: 11.4 points, 2 steals, 1.9 assists and rebounds.
Notably, TSSP-Khimki-2 leads the league in steals, averaging 12.6 per game. The two teams have faced off 46 times in the past, with Khimki holding a significant advantage in head-to-head matchups, boasting 32 victories compared to 14 for Zenit U21.
Zenit U21 head coach Roman Knyazev shared his thoughts ahead of the home games:
We have two series of games ahead of us against opponents who have gained momentum and confidently defeated teams aiming for high standings. Both Minsk and Khimki are aggressive on defense and create a lot of transition opportunities. We need to cope with their aggression and pressure while stopping their fast-break offense. We’ll aim to impose our style of basketball and control the pace of the game.
The games against MINSK-M will take place on December 10 and 11, both starting at 14:00 Saint Petersburg time. The first game against TSSP-Khimki-2 is scheduled for December 14 at 15:00, while the second game is set for December 15 at 14:00.
All matches will be held at the Zenit Basketball Academy (Severnaya Road, 12). Admission for all fans is free, and live broadcasts of each game will be available on the VTB United Youth League website in the schedule section.
