UNICS KAZAN (RUSSIA)

Founded in 1991
Team colors: white and green
Honors: EuroCup (2011), EuroCup runner-up (2014), Russian Cup (2003, 2009, 2014), Russian championship silver (2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2016), Russian championship bronze (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014), NEBL (2003), FIBA Champions' Cup (2004), VTB United League silver (2010, 2012, 2016), VTB United League bronze (2011)
Arena: Basket Hall (capacity – 7000)
Head coach: Dimitrios Priftis
President: Evgeny Bogachev
Official website: unics.ru

Where to watch

LIVE: Match! Strana (14:55), matchtv.ru, VTB United League website
Text online: VTB United League website

PRE-GAME QUOTES

Andrey Maltsev, Khimki Moscow Region interim head coach:

“UNICS is a strong team that likes to play fast. They have an experienced coach who has chosen the players according to their system, according to their style, which they now play. There are good Russian guys who can score: Sergeev, Kolesnikov, Zhbanov, Antipov. At the same time, a big role is assigned to foreigners: they play a lot of isolations and pick-and-rolls to get mismatch situations. Basically, more of a one-on-one game. UNICS is not a tall team, but, again, quite fast and sharp, capable of “biting”. We played the first round game with a slightly different roster, but now the situation has changed. Like us, UNICS plays in the European tournament, for them it is the EuroCup, where they played a number of good games. On the other hand, fatigue from difficult flights probably affects, from which everyone now suffers. In this game, desire will come first, because in any team, a change of coach is a certain shake-up. I hope all the guys understand this, and it is simply impossible to change something after one practice. So far, the general line remains the same, but the emphasis will be shifted in a number of points. At the same time, the key is still the rebounds, as in the first game we lost rebounding”.