Pre-game breakdown
In the past 10 games of the teams, victories have been evenly split, with an unusual aspect of the series being that five of the eight games were won by the away team (the other two were in neutral Final Four venues).
CSKA will miss Will Clyburn who had a surgery on his knee recently and Mikhail Kulagin who recovers after foot injury. Daniel Hackett and Joel Bolomboy remain questionable.
Fener arrived in Moscow without Nando De Colo.
Pre-game quotes
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
We all know what Fenerbahce represents in European basketball. They have ambitions, they have quality and the best coach in Europe. They have many new players and they don’t have the best results this season so far, but they remain extremely dangerous. Fenerbahce plays tough defense on the edge of foul, so we have to be concentrated and motivated to match their aggressiveness and desire.
Nikita Kurbanov, CSKA forward:
We have interesting rivalry past several years. No matter the rosters, all games are very exciting, most of them were decided in the very end. It is important for us to play our best basketball, to show that the game in France do not characterizes us as a team, to defend our home court. At the same time, Fenerbahce is in difficult situation, so surely they will be fighting at every spot on the floor. We expect difficult and exciting game.
Close “relations”
Two of the premier coaches in the game, Zeljko Obradovic and Dimitris Itoudis were joined at the hip for 13 seasons at Panathinaikos Athens during which they led the club to unprecedented success. With Obradovic the master and Itoudis his right-hand man, the led the Greens to five EuroLeague crowns.
Fenerbahce guard Nando De Colo spent the past five seasons as an All-EuroLeague performer for CSKA, helping the team win 2016 and 2019 EuroLeague titles. He made history in 2015-16 as the first EuroLeague player ever to win the Top Scorer Trophy and to be voted both the full-season and Final Four MVP. De Colo played under Coach Dimitris Itoudis and was a teammate of the majority of current CSKA players.
Leo Westerman played for CSKA during the 2017-18 season. He played under Coach Dimitris Itoudis and was a teammate of the majority of the current squad.
CSKA’s Kyle Hines and Fenerbahce guard Kostas Sloukas won EuroLeague titles together in 2012 and 2013 with Olympiacos Piraeus.
Important numbers
Mike James has made at least 1 three-point shot in seven of his last eight games.
Mike James ranks fifth this season in scoring with 18.4 points per game.
Nikita Kurbanov is tied for the league lead in three-point accuracy this season at 66.7%.
Darrun Hilliard has hit multiple three-point shots in six of seven games this season.
Darrun Hilliard is tied for second this season with 3.0 three-point shots made per game.
Kyle Hines ranks fourth this season in two-point accuracy at 71.1%.
Kyle Hines ranks third all-time with 212 blocks.
Hines ranks second all-time with 520 offensive rebounds. Felipe Reyes is the all-time leader with 695.
Hines ranks sixth all-time with 885 two-pointers made.
Hines ranks eighth all-time with 1,169 rebounds. Kerem Gonlum is seventh with 1,189.
Janis Strelnieks ranks sixth all-time in free-throw accuracy at 90.78%.
Past matchups
Wins/losses: 23-11
Short dossier
Fenerbahce Istanbul, Turkey
Founded: 1913
Colors: yellow, dark-blue
Homecourt: Ulker Sports Arena (13800)
President: Azim Yildirim
Head coach: Zelimir Obradovic
Website: www.fenerbahce.org
Trophy case: EuroLeague champions (2017), Turkish champions (1991, 2007, 08, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18), Turkish Cup winners (1967, 2010, 11, 13, 16, 19), President’s Cup winners (1990, 91, 94, 2007, 13, 16)
