Pre-game breakdown
The Army Men stayed in Catalonia overnight and took the Aeroflot charter flight to Minsk on the next day. The Red-Blues have no practice there due to the tough schedule, so CSKA will play against Tsmoki after just one video session.
13 players boarded the flight. Mikhail Kulagin had to get back to Moscow after the injury sustained against Barcelona. The guard will be evaluated in the GMS Clinic later tonight. Cory Higgins continue his rehab after foot injury.
Word to the coach
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
First of all I would like to congratulate the team with its reaction in Barcelona. It was another tough game in which we showed great character and highest level of competitiveness. It gave us a result. The fact that we’ve kept them low in their offensive rebounding and won the rebounding battle overall was one of those keys that we put as one of the basics before the game. Nando had an amazing game. He was leading the team from the very first minute until the end. Special congratulations to him. The future for us: we have to play 4 games in 8 days. It will be a kind of two back-to-backs. The only fact is that we stay in Moscow for 3 of those games. Now we go from Barcelona to Minsk. Tsmoki has a new coach and recently added some players. For sure, for us it is very important to handle the load. I feel very sorry about Misha [Kulagin], and that’s a key factor for us, coaches. Misha was in the process of playing very serious minutes in most of the games of VTB League and EuroLeague. I hope that it [his injury] is not going to be something that will keep him out for a long period. Right now we are forced to use the players who play a lot in EuroLeague, we also have Cory [Higgins] out, hopefully we are not going to pay the price. We are in the good momentum and I am happy that we are back on the winning track.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 17-0
Game of 2018-19 season of VTB United League Regular Season:
CSKA – Tsmoki Minsk: 119-88 (+31)
Short dossier
Tsmoki Minsk, Belarus
Founded: 2006
Colors: blue, white
Home courts: Minsk Arena (15,000), Falcon Club (2,300)
CEO: Yuri Shakola
Head coach: Rostislav Vergun
Website: www.bc-tsmoki.by
Trophy case: 10-time Belarusian champion (2009-18), 9-time Belarusian Cup winner (2010-18)
