Basketball club «Astana» will play a rescheduled home match of the VTB United League against the Krasnodar team «Lokomotiv Kuban», a day after the game in Moscow. The match will take place in Nur-Sultan at the arena of the Saryarka cycle track on Tuesday, February 15, starting at 19:00 capital time. Tickets are on sale on the Ticketon.kz website.
! ATTENTION — We ask all fans to carefully read the rules for attending home matches. Entrance to the arena will be carried out only through the Northern entrance (from the side of Orynbor street, opposite the gas station).
Lokomotiv Kuban is a Russian professional men's basketball club based in Krasnodar, founded in 1946. This season, in addition to participating in the VTB United League, he plays in the Eurocup.
Achievements:
- European Cup winner — 2012/2013
- Cup of Russia — 2000, 2018
- Winner of the International Russian Railways Cup — 2007, 2008
- Finalist of the European Cup — 2017/2018
- Finalist of the FIBA Cup − 2004/2005
- Finalist of the Challenge Cup — 2010/2011
- Korac Cup finalist — 2001/2002
- Finalist of the Cup of Russia — 2013/2014
- Bronze medalist of the Euroleague — 2015/2016
- Silver medalist of the VTB United League — 2012/2013
- Bronze medalist of the VTB United League — 2014/2015
- Bronze medalist of the Russian Championship − 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2011/2012, 2014/2015
Roster:
In the off-season, the Krasnodar team noticeably changed their roster. Of the imports, only the American Alan Williams and the Serb Ivan Paunic, who left the Krasnodar team in January last season, have retained their Kuban registration, and this season he returned. It is worth noting that at one time he played in Astana. Also, four Russian players remained in the team — Stanislav Ilnitsky, as well as young players Vladislav Emchenko, Valery Kalinov, Andrey Martyuk, and Kirill Elatontsev. Americans Drew Gordon, Nigel William-Goss, Will Cummings, Reggie Lynch, and Kevin Hervey left the team. In addition, Lithuanians Mantas Kalnietis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas moved to «Zenit». Also, the team from Krasnodar did not declare young Russian players — Grigory Motovilov, Yegor Sychkov, Danil Sheyanov, and Kirill Korobko.
American guard Eric McColum, known to fans of the VTB United League, moved from «Khimki» to «Loko» this season, and before that he played in Kazan UNICS, Turkish «Galatasaray» and Anadolu «Efes», Chinese Beijing «Royal Fighters» and Zhejiang «Golden Bulls», Greek «Panionis» and «Apollo», as well as Israeli «Elitzur» and Hapoel «Kfar Sava». From the beginning of the season, the team was joined by the winner of the Eurocup — the American forward Stanton Kidd, who previously played in the American «Utah Jazz», the Belgian «Limburg United», the German «Tigers Tübingen», the Turkish «Darushafaka» and «Ormanspor», the Australian «Melbourne United» as well as the Israeli «Hapoel Jerusalem». Another newcomer to the team, American forward Greg Whittington, also has a rich international career. He played in his home country with the «Denver Nuggets» in the NBA and the «Sioux Falls Skyforce» in the NBA Development League, in Australia with the «Sydney Kings», in Japan with «Levanga Hokkaido», in Israel with «Hapoel Gilboa Galil» and in Turkey at «Galatasaray». Greg is the NBA Development League champion. American forward Jonathan Motley previously played in the NBA with the «Dallas Mavericks» and Los Angeles «Clippers», as well as their farm teams from the NBA Development League «Texas Legends» and «Agua Caliente Clippers», and played last season for the Korean team «Incheon IT Land Elephants». American defender Darius Thompson played Dutch “ZZ Leiden” and Italian “Brindisi” before LOKO. In addition, “Lokomotiv-Kuban” announced young Russian players who were previously noted in the Kuban team — Sergey Dolinin, Zakhar Vedischev, and Alexander Shcherbene, as well as Kirill Parilov. In addition, it is worth noting the American guard Quinn Cook, a two-time NBA champion, for whom this is the first basketball experience outside the United States. Before that he was on the roster he was with the «Dallas Mavericks», New Orleans «Pelicans», «Golden State Warriors», Los Angeles «Lakers» and Cleveland «Cavaliers» in the NBA and the «Canton Charge» and Santa Cruz «Warriors» in the NBA Development League. But Quinn did not stay in «Lokomotiv-Kuban», having spent only a month as part of the Kuban team, leaving it on January 1, 2022. Also, perhaps the most “painful” acquisition to Lokomotiv-Kuban for us was the American Jaylen Barford, who spent half of this season with «Astana».
Head coach: Evgeniy Pashutin has remained head of the coaching staff of the Kuban team since last season, but in December the Russian specialist and the Kuban team parted ways. Serbian specialist Branko Maksimovic became the new head coach of Lokomotiv-Kuban. Branko has been an assistant to Evgeny Pashutin in the coaching staff of LOKO since February 2021. He began his coaching career in his homeland in Serbia in the system of «Rodnichki Belgrade», a youth team. Then the assistant om coach in the Serbian teams «Crvena Zvezda», «NIS Vojvodina», «Rodnichki Belgrade», «Hemofarm» and «Rodnichki Kragujevac», and was also involved in the coaching staff of the youth teams of Serbia U-19 and U-20. His first experience as a head coach was in the Slovak team «Banik Gandlova», and then another team from Slovakia, «Inter Bratislava». After, and before Loko, there were posts of the head coach in the Serbian “FMP”, “Mladost Admiral” and “Vrsac”, as well as “Gandlova” from Slovakia.
Rival leaders: At the moment, the main leader of the Krasnodar team is American Eric McCollum. Also, the leaders include the Americans Jonathan Motley and Darius Thompson. It is also worth noting the Americans Stanton Kidd and Alan Willms, and although Alan played only three matches in the VTB League, he entered the court in the last game of the Kubans. Of the Russian players, Andrey Martyuk is the best at the moment, and Vladislav Yemchenko can also be singled out, who entered the court in all the games of the Lokomotiv Kuban team within the framework of the VTB United League.
Standings: “Lokomotiv-Kuban” started the season with a defeat from UNICS and not an easy victory over “Tsmoki-Minsk”. Then there was a victory over «Avtodor», a major defeat from «Zenit», and victories over «Yenisei» and «Zielona Gora». Kuban did not resist in the match with CSKA, but snatched the victory from PARMA, and lost to «Nizhny Novgorod». And already in the new calendar year, they played only one match against «Kalev», in which they won a landslide victory. As a result, they occupy the sixth line in the standings. «Astana» is now on the tenth line in the table.
History of the games: in the framework of the VTB United League, the Kazakh team and the Kuban team met 13 times. «Astana» has only four wins in this confrontation.
Interesting Facts:
- Former «Astana» player Jaylen Barford is likely to make his debut for the Krasnodar team in this match
- Another ex-player of «Astana», Serb Ivan Paunic, may return to the court in Nur-Sultan.
- In the last two seasons, «Astana» did not yield to «Loko» at home.
The match will take place in Nur-Sultan at the arena of the Saryarka cycle track on Tuesday, February 15, starting at 19:00 capital time. An online broadcast of the game will be available on the main page of our website.
The entrance to the arena will be carried out only through the Northern entrance (from the side of Orynbor street, opposite the gas station), according to the scheme:
Detailed information about the tournament, standings, schedule, and match results are published in the Tournaments section.
