It should be reminded that the Army Men suffered their only lost in the end of October when the team played on the next day after return from Sardegna.
“We continue our season with another VTB League game against Nizhny Novgorod,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “It is a serious opponent that plays good basketball and compete well recently. They beat Maccabi in away game last week and qualified for the next round of Eurocup, scoring 14 three-pointers, they played tied game with UNICS where they lost by just two points but again were effective from perimeter. Nizhny uses short rotation but the team is mobile and competitive. They have a number of threats from outside like Khvostov, Baburin, Strebkov, Rudd and Viktorov, they have good bigs like Antonov who plays two positions, Ivlev and Mahalbasic who cover center position. We were defeated by Nizhny in the first round, so we respect our opponent and expect difficult game. Still we are in good momentum, we are healthy, determined and focused. I would like also to use this chance and thank our fans again for great support in the game against Olympiacos. We need them to come in big numbers again and help against Nizhny Novgorod.”
All players are available for CSKA. Nizhny is shorthanded as Eric Maynor and Maxim Grigoryev are out for season.
“Relativity” connections
Nizhny Novgorod Club’s Board Director Sergey Panov played for CSKA during 10 seasons (1994-2000, 2002-06). He was the team’s captain in his second stint.
CSKA guard Dmitry Kulagin played for Nizhny Novgorod from 2009 to 2011, forward Pavel Korobkov – from 2012 to 2014.
Prior to that, from 2009 till 2012, Korobkov played for Lokomotiv-Kuban with Maxim Grigoriev. Nikita Kurbanov also played there with Grigoriev last season.
The Army Men athletic trainer Evgeny Burin worked for Nizhny from 2010 to 2012.
Dmitriy Khvostov was a teammate of CSKA Moscow guard Vitaly Fridzon at Khimki Moscow Region from 2011 through 2013.
Though they’ll miss the game due to injuries, Joel Freeland and Eric Maynor played for the Portland Trail Blazers together in 2012-13 season.
Ivan Strebkov is the Army Men junior project alumni – he started to play for the Red-Blues in 2006. He played for the main team last year.
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 15-3
03.01.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 60-95 (+35)
22.01.2011. BEKO PBL: CSKA – N.Novgorod: 85-53 (+35)
13.04.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 94-89 ÎÒ (-5)
06.09.2011. BEKO PBL: N.Novgorod – CSKA: 62-79 (+17)
01.04.2011. BEKO PBL: CSKA – N.Novgorod: 97-53 (+44)
02.12.2012. VTB United League. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 83-60 (+23)
03.03.2013. VTB United League. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 70-68 (-2)
09.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 54-65 (+11)
10.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 59-86 (+27)
13.06.2014. VTB United League. Finals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 82-66 (+16)
21.12.2013. VTB United League. Finals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 59-84 (+25)
29.01.2015. Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 103-95 ÎÒ (+8)
27.03.2015. Euroleague. Top 16. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 82-86 (+4)
06.04.2015. VTB United League. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 83-75 (+8)
21.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 86-79 (+7)
23.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. CSKA – N.Novgorod: 97-77 (+20)
26.05.2015. VTB United League. Semifinals. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 80-92 (+12)
25.10.2015. VTB United League. N.Novgorod – CSKA: 86-82 OT (-4)
Short dossier
Nizhny Novgorod
Founded: 2000
Colors: white, black
Homecourt: Labor Unions Palace of Sports (5,000)
President: Dmitry Svatkovsky
Head coach: Ainars Bagatskis
Website: www.nn-basket.ru
Accomplishments: VTB United League runner-ups (2014), Russian Championship runner-up (2014), Superleague B champion (2010), Russian Cup finalists (2011)
