Khimki Moscow Region vs. CSKA Moscow: spring classic 3 march 2019

On Monday, March 4, 2019 BC Khimki will face CSKA Moscow in a VTB United League regular season game. It will be played in Basketball Center of Moscow Region. Tip-off at 20:00 msk. Watch LIVE at Match TV, matchtv.ru and VTB UL website.

CSKA MOSCOW (RUSSIA)

Founded in 1923
Team colors: red and blue
Honors: Champion of Euroleague (2006, 2008, 2016), Champion of European Cup for men's champion clubs (1961, 1963, 1969, 1971), Champion of VTB United League (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), Champion of Russia (1992-2000, 2003-2018), Champion of USSR (1945, 1960-1962, 1964-1966, 1969-1974, 1976-1984, 1988, 1990), Russian Cup (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010), USSR Cup (1972, 1973, 1982), Champion of NEBL (2000)
Arena: Alexandr Gomelskiy CSKA Universal Sport Hall (capacity – 5000)
President: Andrey Vatutin
Head coach: Dimitris Itoudis
Official website: www.cskabasket.com

WHERE TO WATCH

LIVE: Match TV, matchtv.ru
Text online: VTB United League website

GAME NOTES

Khimki players Alexey Shved, Sergey Monya and Egor Vyaltsev all played for CSKA. Shved played parts of seven seasons for CSKA between 2005 and 2012 and won the 2008 EuroLeague with the club. Monia spent three seasons with CSKA and Vyaltsev two.

Dimitris Itoudis coached Khimki guard Stefan Markovic five seasons ago in Turkey at Banvit Bandirma.

Markovic was a teammate of CSKA guard Nando De Colo during the 2011/2012 season at Valencia Basket. The backcourt duo helped Valencia reach the EuroCup championship game that season.

Khimki forward Petr Gubanov and his CSKA counterpart Semen Antonov were teammates at Nizhny Novgorod during the 2013/2014 season.

Khimki players Alexey Shved and Andrey Zubkov were teammates on the Russian national team with CSKA's Semen Antonov, Andrey Vorontsevich, Nikita Kurbanov and Mikhail Kulagin at EuroBasket 2017.

PRE-GAME QUOTES

Rimas Kurtinaitis, Khimki Moscow Region head coach:

“We have to play without two leading players, Mickey and Crocker, who weren’t even able to help the team in the final minutes vs. Olimpia Milan. That’s one of the reasons we weren’t able to close out that game. We’ve been beset by injuries, but we continue to work and prepare. The game vs. CSKA is a good chance for players who haven’t had much playing time to show what they can do. I’m happy with the practices and the desire shown by the guys. Also, we are always extra motivated for CSKA. The game will show how everything unfolds. CSKA played well in their last EuroLeague game and showed that they are in great form right now. Like always, I don’t look so much at the opponent, whether their issues or their strengths. I’m more anxious about our team, our practices and our preparation. In recent games, our problem has been our inability to close out a win. We played well for 35 minutes against Olimpia Milan, but simply didn’t finish the game. We didn’t have enough players and maybe lacked the killer instinct that should smell blood and close things out. I think with Shved’s return, there will be a lot of changes to how we play. He’ll help us, especially in the clutch minutes”.