On October 24, Enisey (Krasnoyarsk region) arrives in Minsk for the home game of our men's team in the 2022/23 season of the VTB United League. For many, the joint mention of teams can be associated with a historical event of the last season. Namely, the incredible comeback of MINSK with 27 points and a victory in the last meeting of the rivals. It is noteworthy that two match scorers, who helped bring the legendary victory to our team, will act as our rivals tomorrow. But about everything in more detail in the preview.
History and achievements
The club was established in 1981 under the name “Polytechnic" on the basis of the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute. In Soviet times, the team played with modest results, having once won the USSR Cup in 1988 among the teams of Siberia and the Far East.
Since 1993, Krasnoyarsk has already represented Enisey at the All-Russian arena. In the 1996/97 season, the team tried its hand at the Super League A, but then moved to the Super League B, where in 2007 it won the championship and regained the right to compete among the top Russian teams.
In the 2009/10 season, the club took part in the FIBA Challenge Cup for the first time and reached the second stage, and in the next playing season in the qualifying round lost two matches to Nizhny Novgorod.
Among the achievements of the club are bronze medals of the 2011 Russian Cup, in the 2014/15 season they became quarter–finalists of the FIBA Challenge Cup, losing to the German “Frankfurt”, and in the 2015/16 season they became semi-finalists of the FIBA Europe Cup.
Off-season transfers
During the summer, the club was able to retain the main roster of the team, including American center James Thompson, who consistently shows himself as the MVP in games both last and this season “Enisey”.
The Krasnoyarsk club also signed contracts with American forward Orlando Coleman (the previous club was Chalon–Reims, France), and Russian center Roman Zagretdinov (the previous team was University-Ugra, Surgut).
The fans of the Minsk team will be most interested in watching the confrontation between our players and the newcomers of the Krasnoyarsk club – Yauhen Beliankou and Angelo Warner. In the summer of 2022, it became known that Yauhen Beliankou, a pupil of our club's system and the best player of the Belarusian championship 2021/22, signed a contract with Enisey after several playing seasons with MINSK. For the first time in many years, Yauhen Beliankou will meet Rostislav Vergun on the court not as a coach, but as a player of the opposing team. American defender Angelo Warner also played for our club in the 2021/22 season, spent the last months of the season in the Polish club Trefl Sopot.
Head Coach
In the off-season, the club re-signed a contract with Croatian specialist Drazen Anzulovic, who headed the coaching staff of the team for the previous three years.
Drazen began his coaching career in 2001 after an injury on the playground. Before that, as a player, in 1986 he won the Euroleague title at Cibon. For many years of professional activity, the Croatian specialist has achieved success with the teams of “Cibona”, “Sedevita” (Croatia), “Spiro Charleroi” (Belgium) and the ISS Dombrova Gurnich (Poland). Before joining the Krasnoyarsk club, he worked at Nanjing Monkey King (China).
In 2019, Drazen headed the Croatian national team, which under his leadership competed in the World Cup qualification in group “J” together with the national teams of Lithuania, Italy, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands. With four wins in twelve matches, the Croats took fifth place in the sextet.
Season 2022/23
The teams met last time in the previous season of the VTB United League. Then MINSK broke the League record by making a comeback with -27 points and winning.
In the 2022/23 season , on account of Enisey has four defeats in matches with Pari Nizhny Novgorod (82:90), UNICS (59:104), Samara (86:92) and Zenit (61:89).
The leader of the team is James Thompson, who averaged 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game in four matches.
The pre-match squad of “Enisey" (Krasnoyarsk region):
Guards:
0. Orlando Coleman (09.09.1992, 196 cm, USA),
1. Angelo Warner (12.02.1992, 188 cm, USA),
3. Grigoriy Motovilov (07.02.1998, 190 cm, Russia),
10. Ivan Viktorov (01.11.1995, 196 cm, Russia),
13. Dmitriy Sonko (08.05.2001, 197 cm, Russia),
24. Timofey Gerasimov (15.05.1997, 197 cm, Russia).
Forwards:
9. Alexey Babushkin (04.04.1994, 197 cm, Russia),
12. Yauheni Beliankou (11.06.1995, 198 cm, Belarus),
16. Vladislav Trushkin (05.05.1993, 201 cm, Russia).
Centers:
6. Alexandr Gudumak (03.07.1993, 203 cm, Russia),
7. James Thompson (18.01.1995, 208 cm, USA),
11. Sergey Balashov (20.07.1996, 206 cm, Russia),
33. Roman Zagretdinov (02.04.1996, 210 cm, Russia).
The match will take place at the Falcon Club Arena at 8:00 PM. You can purchase tickets by following the link. Let's support our team!