Pre-game breakdown
After previous bad season the club from Milan had a great start in the EuroLeague. The team won two games in the very end, it routed Panathinaikos in Athens, and its only loss came in the fight against reigning EuroLeague champ Real Madrid.
All players are practicing for the Army Men. Alexander Khomenko is sent to the second team, to play on the CSKA-2 trip to St.Petersburg.
Pre-game quotes
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We have tough game in front of us. Milan is very talented and aggressive team that is proving that it has even more quality this year. They started the season well, they got big road victories, they had close game against Real. Definitely most of the plays are in the hands of James, but the team also has Micov and Nedovic, other perimeter guys like Bertans and Della Valle coming off the bench. Milan also can attack in the paint using Gudaitis, Tarczewski and Kuzminskas. Overall they have enough talent on every position, they are reigning Italian champions and the domestic league leader so we expect very difficult competition.
Daniel Hackett, CSKA guard:
I expect a dangerous game, Milan is a team that is playing good basketball, they have won two straight games at home, so they are on the streak. They have shown big progress comparing to the past season, so we will have our hands full and we go there focused and determined to play our game.
“Relativity” connections
CSKA forward Will Clyburn and Milan’s sharpshooter Dairis Bertans were teammates at Darussafaka Istanbul two seasons ago, they helped the team make the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs.
CSKA guard Daniel Hackett played with Milan for a season and a half. Hackett joined Milan in December of 2013 and stayed there until the summer of 2015. Hackett was a teammate there of Curtis Jerrells.
Vladimir Micov played for CSKA Moscow for two seasons from 2012 to 2014, during which he reached a pair of EuroLeague Final Fours and won a pair of VTB League titles with the club. He was a teammates there of current CSKA players Andrey Vorontsevich and Kyle Hines.
Alec Peters and Mike James defended Phoenix Suns colors last season.
Important numbers
Andrei Lopatin is the only player on the CSKA roster without previous EuroLeague experience.
Nando De Colo has collected at least 1 steal in five of his last six EuroLeague games.
Sergio Rodriguez has hit at least 1 three-point shot in each of his last 12 EuroLeague games.
Sergio Rodriguez is sixth in EuroLeague history with 955 career assists. Former CSKA great and EuroLeague MVP Theo Papaloukas is fifth with 977 assists.
Cory Higgins has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive EuroLeague games.
De Colo is the EuroLeague career leader in free throw accuracy at 93.69%.
Kyle Hines is ranked fourth in EuroLeague history with 184 blocked shots. Anadolu Efes Istanbul center Bryant Dunston is third with 191 blocks.
Hines is 21 points shy of reaching the 2,000-point milestone for his EuroLeague career.
Hines is ranked 12th in competition history with 1,044 rebounds. Former teammate Victor Khryapa is ranked 11th with 1,070 boards.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 9-6
1965-66. European Champions Cup. Semifinal. CSKA – Olimpia: 57-68 (-11)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. Olimpia – CSKA: 94-86 (-8)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. CSKA – Olimpia: 79-78 (+1)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Adecco – CSKA: 87-74 (-13)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Adecco: 70-55 (+15)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 90-64 (+26)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 80-79 (-1)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 73-88 (-15)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 71-65 (-6)
2014-15. Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – EA7 Milan: 97-75 (+22)
2014-15. Euroleague. Top 16. EA7 Milan – CSKA: 79-88 (+9)
2016-17. Euroleague. Regular season. EA7 Milan – CSKA: 64-79 (+15)
2016-17. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – EA7 Milan: 101-64 (+37)
2017-18. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – AX Olimpia Milan: 93-84 (+9)
2017-18. Euroleague. Regular season. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 81-107 (+26)
Short dossier
AX Olimpia Milan, Italy
Founded: 1936
Colors: red, white
Home court: Mediolanum Forum (11,200)
Owner: Giorgio Armani
President: Livio Proli
Head coach: Simone Pianigiani
Website: www.olimpiamilano.com
Trophy case: 3-time Euroleague champions (1966, 87, 88), 3-time Cup Winners Cup champions (1971, 72, 76), 2-time Korac Cup winners (1985, 93), Intercontinental Cup winners (1987), 28-time Italian champions (1936, 37, 38, 39, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 72, 82, 85, 86, 87, 89, 96, 2014, 16, 18), 6-time Italian Cup winners (1972, 86, 87, 96, 16, 17), 2-time Italian SuperCup winners (2016, 18)
