Pre-game breakdown
The Army Men returned from Tel Aviv on Friday night. The team had its only practice Saturday afternoon.
Will Clyburn, Mikhail Kulagin and Darrun Hilliard remain on the injury list.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
Astana is a team that always play with high intensity. They like to run the open court especially with Hill. They recently signed the new player; that says about their ambitions. We have a serious opponent in front of us.
“Relativity” connections
Valery Tikhonenko, Astana General Manager, is a legend of CSKA. He played for the Army Men for 5 seasons (1985-87, 1997-2000) and coached the team for 2 years (2000-02).
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 18-0
Games in 2018-19 season:
07-Oct-2018. Astana – CSKA: 61-86 (+25)
11-Apr-2019. CSKA – Astana: 91-72 (+19)
Short dossier
BC Astana (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan)
Founded: 2000
Colors: yellow, blue
Home court: SC Velotrack/Saryarka (9,270).
President: Valery Tikhonenko
Head coach: Emil Rajkovic
Website: pbcastana.kz
Trophy case: 7-time Kazakhstan champion (2012-15, 17-19), 7-time Kazakhstan Cup winner (2011-14,
