Now at Khodynka

Trying to recover

The team had a difficult January, which included games against their main tournament opponents, and now the coaching staff is taking every opportunity to incorporate recovery into their preparations. Livio Jean-Charles missed the flight to Perm, Casper Ware didn't even play against Parma, Semen Antonov only played a symbolic seven minutes, and the rest of the experienced players didn't see much action. Plus, the team was given a day off on Friday – the red-blues held a full practice with all players (minus Ivan Zaitsev, who wears a boot on his broken leg) at Megasport only today.

"We need to forget our previous meeting with Avtodor, because they're a completely different team now," said CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. "They play very seriously, fight in every game, and have an excellent coach. So we need to approach this game with the same seriousness we've been showing lately."

Trying to rise

Avtodor's entire season has been filled with all sorts of upheavals. Injury follows injury (only Dusan Beslac remains out now), American international Terrence Edwards fails to return to Saratov from his homeland, and the team is quickly bolstered with loan players.

Saratov's top scorers remain the foreign players – Alen Hadzibegovic (17.7 points, 9.0 rebounds) and Malik Newman (17.6 points). Next in line is Pavel Zemsky, on loan from Zenit (9.4 points).

Past matchups

Wins/losses: 72-16
Games of 2025-26 VTB League season:

08-Nov-2025. Avtodor – CSKA: 82-86 (+4)
04-Jan-2026. CSKA - Avtodor: 94-49 (+45)

Brief dossier

Avtodor Saratov

Founded: 1960
Colors: black, white
Home court: Kristall Ice Palace (5,500)
President: Oleg Rodionov
Head coach: Milenko Bogicevic
Website: www.avtodor.ru
Trophy case: 4-time Russian League runner-up (1994, 97, 98, 99), 2-time Russian League bronze winner (1992, 96), EuroCup semifinalist (1998), Superleague A champion (1997, 98), Superleague B champion (2009), Superleague champion (2013/14)