Red-hot Unicaja visit CSKA

MOSCOW (Euroleague) - Plenty of national team stars will be on display when CSKA Moscow host Unicaja Malaga in a Week Four battle of unbeatens in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.

That CSKA have won all three of their games in Group B will have come as no surprise when considering their rich history in the competition.

Even when the team has a new boss, with Dimitris Itoudis now at the helm following Ettore Messina’s move to the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff, the expectations are always high for CSKA.

But not many would have predicted Unicaja getting off to a blistering start both in Europe and Spain.

Joan Plaza’s side is atop the Spanish standings with Real Madrid (both 5-0) and in Europe, Unicaja are 3-0 in Group B after triumphs at Cedevita Zagreb, and at home against ALBA Berlin and Limoges CSP.

One of Unicaja’s heroes has been Kostas Vasileiadis, the Greek international who drilled a game-winning three-ball at the death against ALBA.

Vasileiadis, who played at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, has made at least one three-pointer in 15 straight and 27 of his last 28 Euroleague games.

He was a teammate of CSKA Moscow guard Aaron Jackson for two seasons between 2010 and 2012 at Bilbao in Spain. Vasileiadis played for Anadolu Efes last season.

Another national team star in the Unicaja line-up is Stefan Markovic.

The fiery guard played for Itoudis last year at Banvit in Turkey.

He and CSKA guard Nando De Colo were teammates at Valencia Basket, and Markovic also teamed up with CSKA playmaker Milos Teodosic and helped Serbia reach the Final of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Unicaja’s Mindaugas Kuzminskas played for Lithuania at the World Cup, and Jayson Granger is a Uruguay international.

"We expect a tough game against a team that hasn’t lost a single game this season, winning three in Euroleague and five in Spain," Itoudis said. "We scouted all eight games of Unicaja and I can say that they play high-quality basketball with good balance between the inside game and activity of the guards on the perimeter."

France international De Colo, who got hurt in the build-up to the World Cup and didn’t feature for France in Spain, has only recently recovered from injury.

Last week, he had 18 points in his first Euroleague game of the season, a win over Cedevita.

FIBA