Having successfully started in the season of the National League and inspired with two home victories over Caspiy, the players of the Astana basketball club go to the city on the Neva, to the VTB United League away match against the St. Petersburg Zenit. The match will take place on Sunday, November 1, starting at 20.00, Astana time.
«Zenit» — is a Russian professional men's basketball club from the city of St. Petersburg, founded in 2014. In addition to participating in the VTB United League, they play in the Euroleague.
Achievements:
- Bronze medalist of VTB United League — 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018
- Bronze medalist of the Championship of Russia — 2016-2018
- Finalist of the Russian Cup — 2015/2016
Team roster:
The Petersburg squad has changed a lot in the offseason. Since last season, only 7 people have remained in the team from St. Petersburg. Mexican Gustavo Iona, the Frenchman Andrew Albisi and the Americans Colton Iverson, Alex Renfro and Tim Abromaitis have left the team. As for the Russian players, the most experienced Anton Ponkrashov and Evgeny Voronov also have left the team. Of the seven players who have extended their contracts with Zenit, there are two Americans Austin Hollins and Will Thomas, a Pole Mateusz Ponitka, as well as four Russian players — Dmitry Khvostov, Anton Pushkov, Vladislav Trushkin and Andrey Zubkov.
Three American players have joined the ranks of St. Petersburg players this season. K. C. Rivers guard started his career with the Italian teams Latina, Benetton and Virtus, and also played for the French Rohan. K. C. is no stranger to the VTB United League and in the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons, he played in the Russian teams Lokomotiv-Kuban and Khimki. In the NBA Development League he played in the Reno Bighorns, and also was in the roster of such European giants as the Spanish Real Madrid, German Bayern Munich, Greek Panathinaikos and Serbian Crvena Zvezda, in addition, he played for the Italian Reggiana and the Spanish Real Betis. He spent the last season in the Lithuanian Zalgiris. Rivers has a lot of titles to his credit: Euroleague champion, twice champion of Spain and Greece, champion of the Adriatic League, Serbia and Lithuania. In addition, he has twice won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, the Greek Cup and the King Mindaugas Cup.
The guard Billy Baron has experience of playing for Lithuanian Lietuvos Rytas, Belgian Charleroi, Spanish Murcia, Turkish Eskisehir and Serbian Crvena Zvezda. Billy is the champion of Serbia and the Adriatic League, and the winner of the Super Cup of the Adriatic League. In addition, Baron became the winner of the American Championship with the US team. Forward Alex Poythress has appeared in the NBA rosters such as the Philadelphia SeventiSixers, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks. He also played in the NBA Development League for Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Erie Bayhawks. After the USA, Poythress played for the Chinese team Jilin Northeast Tigers and the Turkish team Galatasaray. Canadian guard Kevin Pangos played for the Spanish Gran Canaria and the Lithuanian Zalgiris and spent the last two seasons in the Spanish Barcelona. Lithuanian forward Arturas Gudaitis has spent most of his career in Lithuania in the teams Gargzdai-Bremen, Zalgiris and Lietuvos Rytas, and spent the last three seasons in the Italian team Olympia Milan. Arturas is twice champion of Lithuania and champion of Italy, as well as the winner of the Lithuanian Cup, King Mindaugas Cup and two Italian Cups. The famous Russian name in Zenit is a guard Vitaly Fridzon. Vitaly has played in Khimki, CSKA and Lokomotiv-Kuban for more than 15 years, and more than once became the Champion of Russia and the VTB United League, Euroleague Champion and bronze medalist of the World Championship and Olympic Games. Another experienced Russian newcomer to Zenit is the guard Denis Zakharov. Denis has participated in the teams Sparta and K, Dynamo Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Lokomotiv Kuban, and he spent the previous seasons in Yenisey. Also, two young players joined the team, forward Igor Volkhin, who came from Khimki and forward Maxim Karvanen, from the Zenit system.
Head coach:
The coaching staff of the team from St. Petersburg has not changed at all since last season. All the same, the team is led by the Spanish specialist Xavi Pascual, and the Spaniard Iñigo Zorzano, the Greek Adamantios Panagiotopoulos and the Russian specialist Sergey Voznyuk helps him.
Rival leaders:
For the four matches that the team played in the VTB United League, Americans Alex Poythress and Billy Baron became the leaders of the team. In addition, Austin Hollins, Kevin Pangos and Mateusz Ponitka performed well. K.C. Rivers, Will Thomas and Arturas Gudaitis are also showing not bad results. As of the Russian players, Andrei Zubkov is excellent, and Vitaly Fridzon and Denis Zakharov are constantly playing from the start of the match.
Tournament position:
Zenit has won all 4 games since the start of the season and topped the standings. However, it should be noted that Zenit so far played mainly with teams from the bottom of the standings, Kalev, Zelena Gora and Tsmoki-Minsk, and also defeated Khimki, which this season is not yet at its peak forms. Astana also played 4 matches but can celebrate of only one victory, and currently occupies the tenth place in the rating of teams.
Game history:
Astana and Zenit have met 11 times, and the St. Petersburg team is ahead of our guys, having won seven games against four.
Interesting Facts:
- Last season the teams had only one game, which took place in Nur-Sultan, then Astana was able to snatch victory from the rivals.
- In the two previous face-to-face confrontations, Astana and Zenith were able to sort things out only in overtime.
The match will take place on Sunday, November 1 in St. Petersburg at the Sibur Arena site, starting at 20:00 Astana time. Online broadcast of the match will be available on our website in the
Match Center section, as well as live on the
QazSport TV channel.
Detailed information about the tournament, tournament tables, schedule, and match results are published in the
Tournaments section.
