Our team visits Kazakhstan for the first time in modern history. The Army Men will face BC Astana in the VTB United League game on Sunday.
“Since our first meeting Astana changed the head coach and, as it usually happens, plays with different attitude,” CSKA head coach Ettore Messina said. “We will have just another ‘back-to-back’ game because we had to go just after our encounter with Zalgiris so it will be difficult. We have to overcome the probable absence of our captain Victor Khryapa who has sore knee. Hopefully we will continue playing good basketball and retain proper focus to win tomorrow.”
The captain reported the problem during the trip so the coaching staff did not have a chance to change the roster. CSKA has 12 players on the list with Evgeny Voronov and Jeremy Pargo staying in Moscow for individual practices.
Red-blues came to Astana by Transaero charter flight around 6 pm local time and went directly to the arena for 1-hour practice. The coaches decided to skip the morning shotaround.
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