Pre-game breakdown
Leo Westermann continues rehabilitation after removal of hematoma on his left hip. Pavel Korobkov (foot) also stays out of action.
Semen Antonov, Mikhail Kulagin and Vitaly Fridzon joined the Russian National Team for World Cup Qualifiers. CSKA-2 players Anton Astapkovich and Alexander Gavrilov are added to the main team roster.
Pre-game quotes
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We have another tough road game ahead of us. Malaga is very competitive in most of the games they played so far in this season. We will miss three players who are gone to play for the National Team. We need to be ready and focused.
Nikita Kurbanov, CSKA forward:
It is great that Unicaja is back to EuroLeague competition. They were always competitive, the games against Malaga team were always difficult and interesting. We are looking forward to play there again and we will try hard to take the win. We will be also glad to see our friend Jimmy Augustine who is having very good season with Unicaja so far.
“Relativity” connections
Carlos Suarez and Sergio Rodriguez were teammates at Estudiantes for the 2006-07 season and with Real Madrid for three seasons, from 2010 to 2013.
Dani Diez and Rodriguez were teammates at Real Madrid in the 2013-14 season.
James Augustine was with CSKA last season; he played under Coach Dimitris Itoudis and was a teammate of most of the CSKA current roster.
Augustine and CSKA guard Vitaly Fridzon were also teammates at Khimki Moscow Region for the 2013-13 season.
During the 2010-11 season, Augustine was a teammate of CSKA guard Nando De Colo at Valencia Basket.
Alan Makiev was a teammate of Unicaja forward Jeff Brooks at Avtodor Saratov during the 2015-16 campaign.
Important numbers
Nando De Colo has made 38 consecutive free throws in EuroLeague action. He is the EuroLeague career leader in free throw accuracy at 93.69%.
De Colo is ranked second among qualified EuroLeague players this season in average performance index rating with 20.6 per game. He is also fourth in the EuroLeague with 16.5 points per contest this season.
Kyle Hines is tied for fourth in the EuroLeague this season with 1.5 steals per game and 1.3 blocks per game. He also ranks second among all qualified EuroLeague players this season in field goal shooting at 68.9%.
Othello Hunter leads the league in offensive rebounds with 3.6 per game this season.
Andrey Vorontsevich has exactly 200 offensive rebounds for his EuroLeague career.
Sergio Rodriguez is ranked 10th all-time on the EuroLeague assists charts with 796, behind his former Spanish national teammate Juan Carlos Navarro (799 and counting) of FC Barcelona Lassa.
Past matchups
Wins-losses record: 20-5
Short dossier
Unicaja Malaga, Spain
Founded: 1977
Colors: white, green, lime
Home court: Palacio De Deportes Jose Martin Carpena (10.233 зрителя)
President: Eduardo Garcia Lopez
Head coach: Joan Plaza
Website: www.unicajabaloncesto.com
Trophy case: EuroCup winners (2017), Spanish champions (2006), Spanish Cup winners (2005), Korac Cup winners (2001)
