“Even though UNICS is already out of playoff race and we solved the task of obtaining home court advantage, we approach the game seriously,” CSKA head coach Dimitris Itoudis said. “It will be our fourth meeting this season, taking into account VTB League, so we know the opponents well. They play high-quality basketball, they have one of the best isolation players in Langford, pick-n-roll creators like Colom, Voronov, Ponkrashov and others. We have to play as champions, to respect ourselves.”
The Red-Blues gathered in USH CSKA next afternoon after beating Darussafaka at home. They had short shooting practice and went to Sheremetyevo airport. The roster remains the same with Dmitry Kulagin and Pavel Korobkov still out due to injuries.
Important numbers
Coach Itoudis has used 14 different players in his starting lineups so far this season; no player has started every game. Mikhail Kulagin is the only CSKA player to have appeared in a game this season without starting at least one.
Nando De Colo has recorded a performance index rating in double figures in 12 straight and 51 of his last 52 EuroLeague games, and he has scored in double figures in 12 straight and 23 of his last 24 games. Nando De Colo ranks second in scoring this season with 20.2 points per game, and is also ranked second with an average performance index rating of 22.5.
De Colo has scored more than 17 points in seven consecutive games.
De Colo is ranked first in EuroLeague history in free throw accuracy. He has made 93.18% of his free throws.
Milos Teodosic has hit at least 1 three-pointer in 18 of his last 19 EuroLeague games.
Milos Teodosic leads the EuroLeague this season with 7.3 assists per game. He ranks third all-time in assists with 1,083. Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos is in second place with 1,088 and counting.
Teodosic is also fifth in scoring in the EuroLeague this season with 16 points per night, and ranks fifth with index rating of 17.3.
Milos Teodosic is fourth on the all-time scoring charts with 2,676 points.
Victor Khryapa has 156 blocked shots in his EuroLeague career. He is fifth on the all-time list. Kyle Hines
is sixth with 153 blocks. Stephane Lasme is ranked fourth with 160 career rejections.
Victor Khryapa is eighth on the all-time EuroLeague charts with 235 steals. Real Madrid forward Jonas Maciulis is seventh with 237 and counting.
James Augustine is the EuroLeague career leader among active, qualified players in shooting accuracy at 66.3%.
Aaron Jackson is 16 points shy of the 1,000-point milestone for his EuroLeague career.
Aaron Jackson needs 3 rebounds to reach 300 for his EuroLeague career.
Aaron Jackson is 4 triples shy of reaching the century mark for his EuroLeague career.
Joel Freeland needs 3 offensive rebounds to reach the century mark for his EuroLeague career.
Past matchups
Wins-losses: 73-17
CSKA biggest margin of victory: 102-54 (+48) (1997-98 Russian Championship. Quarterfinal)
UNICS biggest margin of victory: 113-77 (-36) (2000-01 Russian Superleague. Regular season. 2nd stage)
The teams met three times this season. CSKA prevailed in the EuroLeague game on Megasport floor – 98-80 as well as in VTB League games in Kazan (91-105) and in Moscow (92-88).
Short dossier
UNICS Kazan
Founded: 1991
Color: green, black, white
Home court: Basket Hall (7,500)
President: Evgeny Bogachev
Head coach: Evgeny Pashutin
Website: www.unics.ru
Trophy case:
- EuroCup winner (2011),
- FIBA Europe League winner (2004),
- 4-time Russian League runner-up (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007),
- 6-time Russian League bronze winner (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011),
- NEBL champion (2003),
- 3-time Russian Cup winner (2003, 2009, 2014),
- 3-Russian Cup runner-up (2005, 2007, 2010),
- 3-time VTB United League runner-up (2010, 2012, 2016)
