Right off the bat

Without a vacation

Different clubs spent the break in the regular season lasting more than two weeks in different ways. Many allowed their players to have a few days off, to go home or to warmer climates. Only Aleksa Avramovic went to his homeland for CSKA, and even then it was for a reason - to participate in a couple of qualifying games for the EuroBasket. The rest (with the exception of Vladimir Karpenko, who participated in the training camp of the Russian National Team) returned to training in Krylatskoye immediately after the All-Star Game. Moreover, the guys from CSKA-2 were also involved in the practices.

"The break was great for us, we worked hard, took advantage of this time to fix some things in our game," said CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. “The guys are professionals, they understand the need to work, the reasons why we did not stop training. The players' reaction was excellent. We missed the games, and it is great that we are resuming our performances with a meeting with a very good team, that the fans will see an exciting game. I also really missed our fans: I hope the stands will be full tomorrow. We expect a completely different basketball, compared to our previous games. UNICS has significantly improved during the season in terms of team performance. Kazan team began to act more confidently, more physically than at the early stage of the season, and this has a positive effect on the results."

After the series

Velimir Perasovic's team has indeed made significant progress. A series of 16 consecutive victories, which began in early December, even allowed them to temporarily take over the lead in the standings from CSKA. The successful streak was cut short just before the break in a dramatic away game with Zenit.

During this time, the team has found a leader: Marcos Knight (16.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 steals) is having a great season, and in a difficult game with Parma on February 5, he made a game-winning basket in the final seconds. Devon Acoon-Purcell has found his shape, scoring 15.4 points per game. Jalen Reynolds, who comes off the bench, plays at the same level, spends less than 20 minutes on the court, but still manages to record 13.7 points and 6.1 rebounds. Tony Taylor (10.0 points, 4.5 assists) is still injured, but Ismael Bako (8.1 points, 5.7 rebounds) is ready to return to action. Andrei Lopatin, a graduate of the CSKA youth team, is gradually becoming an important figure for the Kazan team. The forward is a regular starter, plays more than 20 minutes and scores 6.3 points with a good percentage of shots.

Past matchups

Wins-losses: 91-27

CSKA biggest margin of victory: 102-54 (+48) (1997-98 Russian Championship. Quarterfinal)
UNICS biggest margin of victory: 113-77 (-36) (2000-01 Russian Superleague. Regular season. 2nd stage)

Games of 2024-25 VTB League Season:

21-Oct-2024. CSKA – UNICS: 71-55 (+16)
09-Nov-2024. UNICS – CSKA: 73-80 (+7)

Brief dossier

UNICS Kazan

Founded: 1991
Color: green, black, white
Home court: Basket Hall (7,500)
President: Evgeny Bogachev
Head coach: Velimir Perasovic
Website: www.unics.ru
Trophy case:
- EuroCup winner (2011);
- FIBA Europe League winner (2004);
- VTB League and Russian champion (2023);
- 9-time Russian League runner-up (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024),
- 7-time Russian League bronze winner (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2022),
- NEBL champion (2003),
- 3-time Russian Cup winner (2003, 2009, 2014),
- 3-Russian Cup runner-up (2005, 2007, 2010),
- 5-time VTB United League runner-up (2010, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2024)