We are going to Krasnodar to play with Loko

Tomorrow the MINSK men's team will play with Lokomotiv-Kuban in the Krasnodar sports complex Basket Hall. For the rivals, this will be the final meeting in the first stage of the VTB United League regular season. Read more about the “red-green" in our preview.

Season 2022/23

Now Lokomotiv-Kuban is on the 6th line of the standings, having secured a guaranteed entry into the playoffs. In 20 matches of the season, the team got 10 victories and 10 defeats.

Since the last meeting with MINSK, Alexander Sekulic's team has undergone some personnel changes. So, Loko took advantage of the contract option that allows them to withdraw from the current cooperation agreement with American forward Darral Willis.

In December, American defender Josh Gray and American heavy forward Chris Horton made their debuts for the team. Not so long ago, the club also announced the signing of a contract with 29-year-old forward DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (198 cm, Trinidad and Tobago). The player has already managed to demonstrate a bright start in the extreme match against Zenit. After spending almost 23 minutes on the court, DeVaughn scored 20 points, made 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.

The bright leader of the team continues to be Jaylen Barford, the average player statistics for 20 matches: 16.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.8 steals. Rookie Chris Horton averaged 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 12.8 points over 4 games. The average age of the team is 25 years, the average height is 199.7 cm.

MINSK forward Benjamin-Pavel Dodoo: “The first stage of the VTB United League regular season is coming to an end. Unfortunately, it was not possible to hold it as we would like. And every game is like a chance for us to prove to ourselves that we can be competitive and win. I have no doubt about the mood of the team, and I am sure that everyone is ready to go out and fight.”

The opponent 's roster:

Lokomotiv-Kuban (Krasnodar)

Guards

0. Jaylen Barford (23.01.1996, 191 cm, USA),

1. Alexander Shcherbenev (03.10.2000, 191 cm, Russia),

5. Joshia Gray (09.09.1993, 185 cm, USA),

31. Ivan Paunic (27.01.1987, 194 cm, Serbia),

33. Zakhar Vedishchev (09.07.2000, 196 cm, Russia),

35. Vladislav Emchenko (03.10.1999, 194 cm, Russia),

73. Vladimir Makarov (22.10.2003, 199 cm, Russia).

Forwards

2. DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (05.06.1993, 198 cm, Trinidad and Tobago),

6. Chris Horton (06/29/1994, 203 cm, USA),

9. Andrei Martiuk (10.06.2000, 211 cm, Russia),

13. Dmitrii Uzinskii (13.07.1993, 199 cm, Russia),

16. Anton Kvitkovskikh (03.11.2000, 202 cm, Russia),

23. Sergey Dolinin (02/16/2000, 205 cm, Russia),

24. Ilya Sorokin (29.07.2001, 208 cm, Russia),

34. Egor Sychkov (19.09.2001, 208 cm, Russia),

69. Kirill Parilov (04.07.2002, 198 cm, Russia).

Centers

12. Kirill Elatontsev (12.07.2002, 210 cm, Russia),

27. Grigory Shukhovtsov (10.06.1983, 211 cm, Russia).

The head coach is Alexander Sekulic (Slovenia).

The broadcast of the game will be available on the website of the VTB United League and Belarus 5 Internet. We are rooting for MINSK!