On Sunday, as part of the group stage of the WINLINE Basket Cup international tournament, Yekaterinburg’s Uralmash will face Kazan’s UNICS at home.
Time: 4:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. Moscow time)
Location: Russia, Yekaterinburg, DIVS
Broadcast: Kinopoisk
Uralmash: This will be the club’s first game of the new WINLINE Basket Cup season. In last year’s tournament, Anton Yudin’s team fought until the very end for a spot in the Final Four, but ultimately fell just short of the decisive stage, losing on tiebreakers. Now the Ural team is determined to start its new cup campaign with a victory in front of its fans. However, Uralmash is entering the tournament amid a challenging VTB United League schedule, where the team has faced Top-4 opponents three times, going 0-3. The cup match against UNICS is a chance to delight the fans and assert their ambitions against a powerhouse.
UNICS: The Kazan club, led by Milan Karakas, is also kicking off the new WINLINE Basket Cup season. In last year’s tournament, UNICS reached the final, where they lost to CSKA, and now aims to take a step forward. The team from Kazan enters the tournament as one of the favorites and is in excellent form: the white-and-green squad has a five-game winning streak in the United League, including a convincing victory over Uralmash on October 14 (95–84). The seamless integration of skilled rookies has allowed UNICS to demonstrate high scoring output. The Kazan team heads to Yekaterinburg for the away game as the favorite.