Yenisey — CSKA, 06 December 2023

The main thing is not to freeze

After the victory over Astana, the army team not only spent the night in the capital of Kazakhstan, but even managed to work out in the hotel gym in the morning. Then we went to the airport and flew to Krasnoyarsk on an Aeroflot charter.

Krasnoyarsk cannot be compared with the mild winter of Astana. The plane chattered on landing, and at the exit from the local airport terminal, the lanky Muscovites were almost blown away. At a temperature of “-14,” the “feels like” column showed “-25,” although it seemed to eyewitnesses that it was actually much colder.

The Red-and-Blues will spend less than three days in Siberia and are not particularly planning to walk around the streets. Although they did not refuse mandatory training: on Tuesday the guests worked at Arena-Sever, and on the day of the game they will come for a morning shootaround.

Surprise opponent

“Enisey is one of the best teams of the first couple of months of the season and they did not lose at home yet,” CSKA head coach Emil Rajkovic said. “They rely on Rathan-Mayes’ and Martin’s creation a lot and they have a number of good shooters, so we have to be very focused on defense. The game against them in Moscow was a difficult one so we expect a good fight here in Krasnoyarsk as well.”

Despite a change of coach and the departure of several key players, the Siberian team made an excellent start, winning nine of 14 games. And even defeats kept optimism in the hearts of the fans. Even the meeting with CSKA in Moscow turned out to be stubborn, despite the absence of several players who fell ill at that time.

And Xavier Rathan-Mays is the discovery player of the current championship. He currently leads the league in efficiency (28.4) and scoring (27.3). Enisey is also dangerous with its long-range shooters: the team is in second place in three-point percentage (39.1%).

Past match-ups

Win/Loss Ratio: 34-2

Game of the 2023-24 season:

03-Oct-2023. CSKA – Enisey: 73-64 (+9)

Brief dossier

Enisey Krasnoyarsk

Founded: 1981
Colors: blue, white
Home arena: Arena-Sever (3,000 spectators)
Director: Vladimir Petrokovsky
Head Coach: Jovica Arsic
Website: www.basket-enisey.ru
Trophy case: 2006-07 SuperLeague B champion, 2011 Russian Cup bronze winner