Crvena Zvezda — CSKA, 21 February 2020

Our team went to Belgrade to face Crvena Zvezda in the EuroLeague game.

Pre-game breakdown

The National Cups and All-Star Games break is over. The Army Men got unimaginable three days off after the win against Kalev though 5 players still participated in the All-Star Game on Sunday, so their rest was shorter.

Zvezda missed previous EuroLeague season, so it has been a long time since CSKA visited Serbian capitol to meet the hosts – the previous game took place on November 15, 2017.

Will Clyburn, Andrey Vorontsevich and Mikhail Kulagin stay out with injuries.

Pre-game quotes

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

The teams from the other countries were playing in their National Cups, we did not do that though we had an All-Star Game with many players participating. We gave the players a good rest but in the next four days we worked very good, I am happy with the way we worked. Everybody is here except for Misha Kulagin, who had bad luck of injury again, unfortunately. Zvezda is always a tough opponent, especially at home with 20 thousand fans creating amazing atmosphere. Their ambitions are proved on the market, they changed the team drastically. In comparison to the first round they have Punter, their leading scorer now, they added another guard, Lucas, now they have Jagodic-Kuridza at the four, Stimac is back… So it is a totally different team, the team that fights and plays strong defense. For us now and on each and every game is a bounce back game, we gotta perform better when we did against Olympiacos in our last EuroLeague game. Though we had two VTB League games where we showed some kind of a progress, but definitely it will be another bounce-back game, we need to be focused, to fight, to be aggressive and give a very good performance.

Ron Baker, CSKA guard:

They are playing really well, battling for the playoff position. They gonna have some crowd tomorrow from what I hear, I am excited to see Serbia for the first time. Hopefully we will come out with the win.

“Relativity” connections

Zvezda forward James Gist and Mike James were teammates at Panathinaikos Athens for parts of two seasons, from 2016 to 2018.

Nikita Kurbanov and Derrick Brown were teammates at Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in 2014-15.

Stratos Perperoglou and Kyle Hines were teammates in Olympiacos when the Reds won the 2012 EuroLeague title in an unforgettable final against CSKA.

Greek forward played 5 seasons for PAO before, when Dimitris Itoudis and Andreas Pistiolis worked on the coaching staff.

Perperoglu played for Panionios in 2006-07 season when Kostas Chatsichristos was an athletic trainer there.

Nikola Jovanovic played in G-League with two CSKA players. He played with Darrun Hilliard for Grand Rapids Drive and with Ron Baker for Westchester Knicks.

Important numbers

Coach Itoudis has used 11 different players in his starting lineups this season. Only Nikita Kurbanov has started every game.

Mike James has made at least 1 three-point shot in 17 straight games. He ranks fourth this season with 2.8 three-point shots made per game.

James has scored in double figures in each of his last 22 games. He ranks third in scoring this season with 21.0 points per game.

James has recorded a performance index rating in double figures in 21 of his last 22 games. He ranks third this season in average PIR with 21.1 per game.

Kyle Hines has blocked at least 1 shot in nine of his last 10 games. Kyle ranks third all-time with 230 blocked shots. Injured Anadolu Efes center Bryant Dunston is second with 242 career rejections.

Kyle Hines is tied for seventh in offensive rebounds this season with 2.3 per game. Hines ranks second all-time with 568 offensive rebounds. Felipe Reyes is the all-time leader with 696.

Hines ranks sixth all-time with 947 two-pointers made. Mike Batiste is fifth with 949.

Hines ranks seventh all-time with 1,264 rebounds. Mirsad Turkcan is sixth with 1,287.

Kyle Hines needs 5 more steals to reach 200 for his career.

Johannes Voigtmann has made at least 1 three-pointer in each of his last 10 games; he is shooting 21 for 41 (51.2%) from downtown over that stretch.

Nikita Kurbanov has made 10 consecutive free throws.

Janis Strelnieks ranks sixth all-time in free-throw accuracy at 90.8%.

Daniel Hackett needs 3 rebounds to reach 500 for his career.

Past matchups

Wins-losses: 12-1
1969-70 – European Champions Cup. Group stage. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 82-85 (+3)
1969-70 – European Champions Cup. Group stage. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 105-92 (+7)
1972-73 – European Champions Cup. Semifinals. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 90-98 (+8)
1972-73 – European Champions Cup. Semifinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 100-83 (+17)
1999-00 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 86-62 (+24)
1999-00 – Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 65-80 (+15)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 84-74 (+10)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 77-76 (+1)
2015-16 – Euroleague. Quarterfinals. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 71-78 (+7)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 78-67 (-11)
2016-17 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 102-80 (+22)
2017-18 – Euroleague. Regular Season. Crvena Zvezda – CSKA: 59-85 (+26)
2017-18 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 92-81 (+11)
2019-20 – Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Crvena Zvezda: 100-74 (+26)

Short dossier

Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, Serbia
Founded: 1945
Colors: white, red
Homecourt: Stark Arena (25.000), Aleksandar Nikolić Hall (8.000)
President: Nebojsa Covic
Head coach: Dragan Sakota
Website: www.kkcrvenazvezda.rs
Trophy case:
- Cup Winners Cup (1974);
- ABA Champion (2015, 16, 17, 19);
- Yugoslavian champion (1946, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 69, 72, 93, 94, 98);
- Yugoslavian Cup winner (1971, 73, 75);
- Serbian champion (2015, 17, 18, 19);
- Serbian Cup winner (2004, 06, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)