Russia now have 19-man squad before February Qualifiers
MOSCOW (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Russia coach Sergei Bazarevich has added Evgenii Baburin, Ivan Ukhov, Peter Gubanov and Stanislav Ilnitskiy to his Russia squad.
MOSCOW (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Russia coach Sergei Bazarevich has added Evgenii Baburin, Ivan Ukhov, Peter Gubanov and Stanislav Ilnitskiy to his squad ahead of the national team's World Cup Qualifiers at France and at home to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Russians (1-1) now have a 19-man group of players, with the Russian Basketball Federation (RSE) having previously announced a 15-man squad.
| Russia squad for FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers | |||
| Pavel Antipov | Semen Antonov | Evgenii Baburin | Nikita Balashov |
| Vitaly Fridzon | Petr Gubanov | Stanislav Ilnitskiy | Vladimir Ivlev |
| Sergey Karasev | Dmitry Khvostov | Artem Klimenko | Dmitrii Kulagin |
| Mikhail Kulagin | Nikita Kurbanov | Alexei Shved | Ivan Ukhov |
| Evgeny Valiev | Andrei Vorontsevich | Andrei Zubkov | |
When Russia announced a previous list on January 19, Bazarevich indicated that additions were likely.
"It should be understood that this composition is not final. First of all, it's still a month before the games and anything can happen. Secondly, the President of the RSE, Andrei Kirilenko, continues negotiations with the clubs of the EuroLeague," the play caller said at the time.
"I hope that we will get those players we want. During this month, we will continue to monitor the candidates for the national team - both for those who are on the list and for those who are not."
Baburin played for Russia at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 and also averaged 8.9 minutes per game in their two November games. Ilnitskiy played 15 seconds of Russia's game at Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Russia will be looking to build on their 76-69 home triumph over Belgium on November 27 when they travel to Strasbourg and meet France (2-0) on February 23. The last time the teams met in an important game was in Montpellier at FIBA EuroBasket 2015, a close game won by Les Bleus.
Bazarevich and his players will gather in Novogorsk on February 19 and train there for three days before leaving for France.
Beaten by Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81-76, in the first meeting on November 24 in Sarajevo, Russia will face them again on February 25 but this time in Perm.
FIBA