Pre-game breakdown
CSKA can become the first team to secure a playoff berth if it beats Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz.
Nando De Colo will receive his long-awaited January MVP award before the game.
The Army Men missed three “bigs” in previous games. Kyle Hines, Othello Hunter and Pavel Korobkov were out due to injuries.
The Army Men added newcomer Victor Rudd to the roster. Anton Astapkovich was de-registered to clear the spot.
Pre-game quotes
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We have another tough EuroLeague game ahead of us, Baskonia is a tough opponent as always. We are in the middle of the break in national competitions so we were practicing normally to prepare for this game well. We need all our focus, concentration to compete and we hope that our fans will come in big numbers.
Cory Higgins, CSKA guard:
We expect them to play very physical. Baskonia is very aggressive team, we have to be ready for that and take care about them on defense.
Referees
Luigi Lamonica (Italy, crew chief), Matej Boltauzer (Slovenia), Mehdi Difallah (France).
Close relations
Sergio Rodriguez played under Baskonia Coach Pedro Martinez at Estudiantes Madrid during the 2006-07 season.
Nando De Colo and Baskonia forward Toko Shengelia were teammates at Valencia Basket during the 2009-10 season and won the 2010 EuroCup title together.
Important numbers
Coach Dimitris Itoudis has used 11 different players in the CSKA starting lineup so far this season. No player has started every game.
Kyle Hines has not missed a EuroLeague game since January 2014; his streak was broken on 132 consecutive games for CSKA in that span.
Nando De Colo has scored in double figures and posted a performance index rating in double figures in 18 of his last 19 EuroLeague games.
Nando De Colo is ranked second among qualified EuroLeague players this season in average performance index rating with 20.6 per game. He is third in the EuroLeague in scoring with 17.0 points.
De Colo leads the league in free-throw accuracy this season by making 95.9% of his attempts. Nando is the EuroLeague career leader in free throw accuracy at 93.76%.
De Colo ranks second in three-point shooting at 50.0% accuracy.
De Colo is fifth in the EuroLeague this season with 1.4 steals per game.
Sergio Rodriguez has made three-pointers in 15 of his last 16 EuroLeague games. He is second in the EuroLeague this season with 2.9 three-pointers made per game.
Sergio Rodriguez is seventh on the all-time EuroLeague assists charts with 864.
Rodriguez has scored in double figures in five straight appearances.
Cory Higgins has scored in double figures in each of his last 6 EuroLeague games.
Higgins has nabbed at least 1 steal in 7 straight EuroLeague appearances.
Higgins has recorded a performance index rating in double figures in 7 consecutive EuroLeague games.
Will Clyburn is third in the EuroLeague in rebounding with 6.1 rebounds per game.
Othello Hunter is fourth in the league in offensive rebounds with 2.7 per game.
Kyle Hines is fourth on the all-time EuroLeague charts with 426 offensive rebounds for his career. He needs 13 more to catch Ioannis Bourousis (439) for third place.
Hines needs 16 more rebounds to become the 13th player in competition history with 1,000 boards.
Hines is third all-time with 177 career blocks.
Khryapa is ranked eighth on the all-time charts with 241 career steals. Juan Carlos Navarro of FC Barcelona Lassa and Khryapa’s former teammate J.R. Holden are tied for sixth with 247 and counting.
Khryapa is seventh on the all-time charts with 161 blocks for his career. He needs 1 more to catch Mirza Begic who has 162 in sixth place.
Past matchups
Wins-losses: 25-7
2001-02 – Euroleague. Top 16: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 73-87 (+14)
2001-02 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 73-90 (-17)
2003-04 – Euroleague. Top 16: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 77-80 (+3)
2003-04 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 84-82 (+2)
2004-05 – Euroleague. Regular season: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 88-83 (+5)
2004-05 – Euroleague. Regular season: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 81-85 (+4)
2004-05 – Euroleague. Final Four. Semifinal: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 78-85 (-7)
2005-06 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 82-76 (+6)
2005-06 – Euroleague. Top 16: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 70-63 (-7)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Regular season: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 76-85 (+9)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Regular season: CSKA – TAU Ceramica: 70-62 (+8)
2007-08 – Euroleague. Final Four. Semifinal: TAU Ceramica – CSKA: 79-83 (+4)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Regular season: Caja Laboral – CSKA: 67-71 (+4)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Regular season: CSKA – Caja Laboral: 84-83 (+1)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Caja Laboral: 86-63 (+23)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Caja Laboral: 83-63 (+20)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: Caja Laboral – CSKA: 66-53 (-13)
2009-10 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: Caja Laboral – CSKA: 70-74 (+4)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Caja Laboral: 89-78 (+11)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Caja Laboral: 90-68 (+22)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: Caja Laboral – CSKA: 93-72 (-21)
2012-13 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: Caja Laboral – CSKA: 85-94 (+9)
2014-15 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – Laboral Kutxa: 99-90 (+9)
2014-15 – Euroleague. Top 16: Laboral Kutxa – CSKA: 74-81 (+7)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Top 16: Laboral Kutxa – CSKA: 81-71 (-10)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Top 16: CSKA – Laboral Kutxa: 90-78 (+12)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season: CSKA – Baskonia: 112-84 (+28)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season: Baskonia – CSKA: 79-78 (-1)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Baskonia: 98-90 (+8)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: CSKA – Baskonia: 84-82 (+2)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals: Baskonia – CSKA: 88-90 (+2)
2017-18 – Euroleague. Regular Season: Baskonia – CSKA: 81-90 (+9)
Short dossier
Baskonia Vitoria, Spain
Founded: 1959
Colors: red, dark blue, white
Home arena: Fernando Buesa Arena (15,504)
President: Jose Antonio Querejeta
Head coach: Pedro Martinez
Website: www.baskonia.com
Trophy case: 2-time Spanish champion (2002, 08); 5-time Copa del Rey winner (1995, 99, 2002, 04, 06); 4-time Spanish SuperCup winner (2005, 06, 07, 08); Saporta Cup winner (1996)
