Starting a tour along the Volga River

With a shortened roster

Of course, this series of road trips can't be called a full tour, but the breaks between games are significant. After Nizhny Novgorod, CSKA will play Avtodor in Saratov on Saturday, and the game against UNICS in Kazan will take place a week later, next weekend.

While the country is on holiday, the red-blues only caught their breath on Sunday, after a crushing victory over Lokomotiv. After that, they worked for two days in Krylatskoye, and Ivan Zaytsev played in CSKA-2's successful game against Yugra on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Muscovites were forced to play with a shortened roster. Livio Jean-Charles, who suffered a leg muscle injury in Saturday's game, is currently training individually. Antonius Cleveland did not participate in pre-game practice due to an ankle injury. Daniil Klyuchenkov, who had recovered from an illness, only rejoined his teammates on Tuesday.

Dangerous, especially at home

The game against Pari NN will begin the second round of the regular season for the Red-Blues even though the team hasn't yet played Avtodor and MBA-MAI. However, the first round game at Basket Hall Moscow was a difficult and memorable one. CSKA confidently played the first half, leading by 21, allowed the opponents to get within two points in the final quarter, but held on to the victory thanks to Antonius Cleveland's confident play at the end.

The Nizhny Novgorod team has had a challenging season – Sergei Kozin's men have only won once and are sitting in the second-to-last spot in the standings. Interestingly, Kirill Popov, who transferred from Khimki and also played for the CSKA youth team, is currently their top scorer: 13.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 0.7 blocks, and a 40.7% three-point percentage. Another newcomer, Shane Gatling, is averaging 12.0 points and 3.3 assists. Aleksandr Khomenko, a graduate of our club's youth program, leads the team in playing time (28.4 minutes) and averages 11.4 points.

"Nizhny always puts up a strong fight against big teams, especially on their home court," noted CSKA head coach Andreas Pistiolis. "We need to remember this and play the good basketball we've been demonstrating in previous games."

Past matchups

Win-loss record: 52-5

2025-26 VTB League regular season game:

15-Oct-2025. CSKA – Pari NN: 86-77 (+9)

Brief dossier

BC Pari Nizhny Novgorod

Founded: 2000
Colors: white, black
Homecourt: Labor Unions Palace of Sports (5,000)
President: Sergey Panov
Head coach: Sergei Kozin
Website: www.nn-basket.ru
Accomplishments: Russian Cup winner (2023), VTB United League runner-ups (2014), Russian Championship runner-up (2014), Superleague B champion (2010), Russian Cup finalists (2011)