The Army Men had a practice in USH CSKA on Satarday afternoon and had time to watch the junior teams CSKA – Avtodor clash. After that they left to Vnukovo-3 with all 13 players available (only Victor Khryapa recovers after surgery).
“Avtodor is a very aggressive team offensively,” Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach, said. “They won last 5 games averaging more than 90 points. Their pace is controlled by Fortson, who has freedom to create and he dictates the speed. Still the other guards like Chappell, Dawns and Glazunov are also very quick and keep up the tempo. So definitely we have to be focused on making stops. Defensively they play zone a lot and that will require good team execution from us.”
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 45-15
Short dossier
Avtodor Saratov
Founded: 1960
Colors: black, white
Home court: Kristall Ice Palace (5500)
President: Vladimir Rodionov
Head coach: Sergey Mokin
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)
