«Astana» goes to Krasnoyarsk to play with «Enisey»

The basketball club «Astana» will hold its first away game in the new year in the framework of the VTB United League in Krasnoyarsk, where for the first time this season it will meet with the local «Enisey.» The match will take place on Sunday, January 24, at 16:00 Nur-Sultan time.

«Enisey» - is a Russian professional men's basketball club from the city of Krasnoyarsk, founded in 1981.
 
Achievements:

• Champion of the «B» division of the Russian Super League — 2006
• Silver medalist of the B division of the Russian Super League — 2004/2005, 2005/2006
• Bronze medalist of the Russian Cup — 2011

 
Team roster:

“Enisey” in the offseason re-signed contracts with only six players, five of whom are Russian players and an American one. The import who has stayed in Krasnoyarsk is Dustin Hog. And of the Russian players, Artem Komissarov, Alexander Gudumak, Ivan Viktorov, Ilya Popov and Sergey Mitusov remained in the team. Among the key players who had left the Krasnoyarsk team are Croat Tomislav Zubchic, Serb Nikola Rebic, Americans Garlon Green and Chavon Lewis, as well as Russian Denis Zakharov, who moved to St. Petersburg “Zenit”.



Four American players have joined the Krasnoyarsk team. Experienced guard Carron Johnson started his professional career in New Zealand with the New Zealand «Breakers», and then moved to Europe where he played for such teams as German «Riesen Ludwigsburg», French «Ruen», Polish «Dobrova Gornitsa», Italian «Pistoia”, The Romanian“ Klui ”, as well as the Israeli “Hapoel Be'er Sheva”. Guard Jordan Matthews made his professional debut with the «Erie BayHawks» in the NBA Development League, and then spent two seasons in Europe — Danish «FOG Naestved» and Italy's «Vanoli Cremona». Forward Leighton Hammonds before «Yenisey» had spent three seasons in European clubs: Finnish «Nokia», Hungarian «Kermend» and Polish «Gdynia Arka». Tyus Battle has previously spent only one season at the professional level with «Iowa Wolves» in the NBA Development League. Six Russian players also joined the team. Mikhail Kulagin started at «Triumph», and then moved to CSKA, where he spent the last five seasons. Center Sergei Balashov, before “Yenisey” played in “Lokomotiv-Kuban” and “Zenit”. Guard Timofey Yakushin is a graduate of the CSKA system, who started his professional career at Khimki and spent last season with PARMA. The team also announced three young players: guard Dmitry Sonko and forwards Ivan Vaschenko and Artem Schlegel.
 
Head coach:

The Krasnoyarsk coaching staff has not changed at all in comparison with the last season. The head coach of the Krasnoyarsk team is still the Croatian specialist Drazen Anzulovic, and the same Russian coaches Pavel Dergachev and Sergey Vasiliev assist him.



Rival leaders:

At the moment, the most productive player of the team is Mikhail Kulagin, and the most effective is Dustin Hogh, although he did not participate in the last game. The team also includes imports Leighton Hammond, Tyus Battle and Carron Johnson. In addition, Artem Komassarov, Sergei Balashov, Ilya Popov and Sergei Mitusov constantly play on the court.
 
Tournament position:

“Enisey” has played 11 games this season and was able to win only one victory, as a result of which at the moment it closes the standings, being on the 13th line. “Astana” also played 11 games, but won 4 victories and is in the tenth position. It is also worth noting that «Yenisey» suffered six defeats in a row, and if in several games they imposed a fight, including away matches with «Avtodor» and «Nizhny Novgorod», where they lost only 6 and 4 points, respectively, then the last game, which took place in Krasnoyarsk against PARMA was a «disaster» for them — minus 34 points. “Astana” on the other hand is playing very well in the last games, first, our guys snatched an away victory in Perm, then lost at home, but imposed a fight on the current leaders of the tournament on Saint Petersburg “Zenit”, and this year began with a sensational victory over “Lokomotiv”.

Game history:​

“Astana” and “Enisey” have met 12 times and at the moment the score is 6: 6. But apart from this, the teams held a friendly match, and then the victory was won by “Astana”.
 
Interesting facts:

• In the VTB United League, the teams have won the same number of victories in head-to-head games and in the friendly game, «Astana» got an upper hand. 
• The last three meetings between these teams ended with victories of our team.

 
The match will take place on Sunday, January 24 in Krasnoyarsk at the «Sever Arena», beginning at 16:00 Nur-Sultan time. The 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.