Enisey vs Zenit: Preview
Context
It has been more than a month since the last encounter between our teams. After the loss in St. Petersburg, Enisey quickly bounced back with a home victory against MBA-MAI (78:76). However, a series of four consecutive defeats followed. After hard-fought games against Lokomotiv Kuban (70:73) and UNICS (96:74), they suffered even more frustrating losses to Uralmash (83:61) and Avtodor (65:86).
But a week ago, the Krasnoyarsk team finally secured a long-awaited win on the road against PARMA. The match ended 64:81 in favor of Enisey, with the hero of the game being Siberian guard Victor Sanders. The American basketball player scored 31 points, made 7 assists, grabbed 5 rebounds and posted an efficiency rating of 34. Having a productive November, Sanders is now approaching the middle of the regular season as the top scorer for Enisey (12.9 points per game).
Connections
Former Zenit player Timofey Gerasimov is also one of the most effective players on the Krasnoyarsk team this season. On average, the point guard scores 11.7 points per game. Additionally, with an average of 5.2 assists, Timofey ranks fourth in the current VTB United League assist leaders.
Another ex St. Petersburg player, Sergey Balashov, is also among Enisey's top three scorers: 8.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Head-to-head
This will be the 27th meeting in the history of the rivalry between the two teams in the VTB United League. Except for the game in February of this year, which was also held in Krasnoyarsk and ended in a home win for Enisey, all other matchups have been victories for the blue-whites team.
Quotes
Zenit's head coach Xavi Pascual gave a comment ahead of the away game in Krasnoyarsk:
I like very much Enisey, I like very much his coach, he's an excellent coach, always he's taking the best of his players. Defensively, they are very serious, in the last game they forced 19 turnovers to CSKA. Offensively, they share the ball, they know what to do. And also at home, they always are putting one step more and they are usually near to win all the teams. So we have to be ready. We have to play a very good game if we want to win.
Who. Where. When.
Opponent: Enisey
Location: Arena Sever, Krasnoyarsk
Date: December 15, 13:00 St. Petersburg time
Broadcast: Okko Sport, VTB United League website, Start
