Aliaksei Sukhavetski's wards will play a home match of the VTB United League against Astana on March 27 at the Falcon Club Arena. At the beginning of the month, the teams met in Kazakhstan, then the Minsk residents were close to victory and lost to the opponent with a 6-point difference in the score. Read more about the upcoming match in our preview.
Season 2023/24
Now Astana, in comparison with the start of the season, has begun to perform less successfully. In the second stage in pool B, Kazakhstanis won two victories in 8 matches: over Runa and our team. Moreover, the opponent is playing the game more confidently on the road, so Astana residents will come to Minsk determined to return the winning streak. However, last week the opposing team said goodbye to one of the leaders – center Royce Hamm, who averaged 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in 33 League matches.
Leaders
Now in the line-up “Astana” Carvel Anderson demonstrates the best result when scoring points. The average stats of an attacking defender are 15.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists in 32.19 minutes on the court in 33 matches. Point guard Markell Johnson shows average stats of 14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 2.1 steals, spending 30.43 minutes on the floor in 34 games.
MINSK defender Jovan Sljivancanin: ”It is really nice to return to the game at such a high level. Astana, compared to the beginning of the season, is not in the best shape, but they are still a strong team with very good American players. I am sure that they will see an opportunity and show their best game against us to try to return to a winning streak. As for us, in some aspects we need to play the same way as in the match against Runa, only with fewer mistakes, and this will help us win on Wednesday, because we have a really good chance of success."
The roster of the opponent
Guards
2. Markell Johnson, 08.25.1998, 188 cm, USA,
3. Rustam Murzagaliev, 05.24.1992, 190 cm, Kazakhstan,
8. Vasile Pushica, 09.12.1995, 196 cm, Serbia,
9. Vadim Sherbak, 05.24.1993, 194 cm, Kazakhstan,
25. Maxim Marchuk, 01.17.1994, 195 cm, Kazakhstan,
31. Carvel Anderson, 06.03.1991, 188 cm, USA.
Forwards
7. Davin Davis, 03.29.1995, 198cm, USA,
11. Jordan Skipper-Brown, 01.07.1998, 198cm, USA,
21. Roman Marchuk, 03.04.1993, 198cm, Kazakhstan,
47. Ruslan Aitkali, 19.12.1997, 195 cm, Kazakhstan.
The centers
24. Dmitry Gavrilov, 11.27.1986, 204 cm, Kazakhstan,
55. Askar Maidekin, 05.28.1997, 203 cm, Kazakhstan.
The head coach is Fotis Takianos, Greece.
The game will start at 18:15, tickets for the match can be purchased on the website and at points of sale kvitki.by, as well as in the lobby of the arena an hour before the start. Let's support MINSK together!