A contender from Yekaterinburg

Seizing the moment

Despite the closeness of the two home games, the red-blues were unable to stay at the arena – hockey once again clashed with the schedule. Therefore, the team returned to Krylatskoye and trained at the Basket Hall Moscow, including on Tuesday evening. Almost the entire roster was present, with the exception of Daniil Klyuchenkov, who was held back after a minor injury sustained in a Superleague game.

"We've already said that Uralmash is one of the contenders in the league. It's a high-level club, a team that plays good basketball," noted CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. "We need to seize the momentum after our victory in the previous game and build on what we showed against UNICS."

Ural core

The main advantage of this year's Uralmash is that the team has virtually retained its core from last season, so it doesn't have to go through the painful process of a complete rebuild. Yes, the Ural team was forced to send its top scorer, Jeremiah Martin, to Lokomotiv-Kuban, but Garrett Nevels, who replaced him from Parma, has so far demonstrated a respectable level – 17.4 points on 57.1% three-point shooting. The other foreign players – Tyrell Nelson (12.3 points, 7.8 rebounds), Hayden Dalton (11.3 points, 5.5 rebounds), and Javonte Douglas (9.0 points, 6.3 rebounds) – remain key players in the paint. It's gratifying that head coach Rostislav Vergun is increasingly placing more trust in CSKA alumnus Anton Kardanakhishvili. The playmaker is logging 25.4 minutes per game, recording 12.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on 38.1% three-point shooting. Another high-profile Uralmash newcomer, Russian national team guard Timofey Gerasimov, has posted similar numbers: 11.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. However, another CSKA graduate, Oleg Akramov, who is currently on loan, has not yet appeared in the previous six VTB League games.

At the start of the season, the Yekaterinburg team settled in the middle of the standings. Their road win over Lokomotiv and subsequent home defeat to MBA-MAI were rather unexpected. The team had a strong showing against leaders UNICS and Zenit, losing by six and five points, respectively, and then prevailed in games against Enisey and Avtodor.

Past matchups

Win/loss ratio: 6-0

Games of the 2024-25 season

25-Sep-2024. CSKA - Uralmash: 98-56 (+42)
13-Nov-2024. Uralmash - CSKA: 70-77 (+7)
26-Jan-2025. Uralmash - CSKA: 67-94 (+27)
04-Mar-2025. CSKA - Uralmash: 109-65 (+44)

Brief dossier

Uralmash Ekaterinburg
Founded: 1960
Colors: orange, black, green
Home arena: Palace of Team Sports (5,000)
President: Viktor Ganienko
Head coach: Rostislav Vergun
Website: bcuralmash.ru
Trophy case: Russian Cup winner (2025), 2-time SuperLeague champion (2022, 2023), SuperLeague vice-champion (2021), SuperLeague-2 bronze winner (2018), SuperLeague-3 champion (2017)