Pre-game breakdown
The Army Men had three productive days after the previous game. They took time to analyze the defeat in Piraeus and prepared for the next game.
Will Clyburn and Andrey Vorontsevich remain on the injury list.
14 players boarded the Aeroflot charter flight. Howard Sant-Roos and Alexander Khomenko stayed in Moscow. Daniil Kochergin, the young forward who had a chance to debut for the main team in the previous VTB League game, joined the team.
Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:
It is a bounce back game for us. Astana has an ambitions to be in playoffs, they have three new players in comparison to our first meeting – Florence, Holt and Crockett.
“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).
Astana newcomer Stephen Holt spent part of 2016-17 season together with Howard Sant-Roos at Nymburk.
Past matchups
Win-loss record: 19-0
Game of 2019-20 season:
15-Dec-2019. CSKA – Astana: 104-91 (+13)
Short dossier
BC Astana (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan)
Founded: 2000
Colors: yellow, blue
Home court: DE Zhekpe-Zhek Arena (5,000).
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,
