PB is tackling a new series of away games. St-Chamond currently has the same score, so tomorrow’s match will be key for the rest of the season.
SAINT-CHAMOND VS PB 86: DISAPPOINTING FOR THE LOSER.
WHAT THEY SHARE ON AND OFF THE COURT
There are several things in common between Saint-Chamond Basket and Poitiers Basket:
In two or three years, both teams will be playing in new halls. They both have similar high ambitions.
Both teams rely on locally trained players and one season follows on from another without many changes. In Saint-Chamond, the point guard Mathieu GUICHARD has just started his fifth year with the club, the all-round forward Matteo LEGAT his fourth, the shooting guard Jonathan HOYAUX his fourth too, the relentless centre Jean-Stéphane RINNA (36) his fifth and the Cuban centre Grismay PAUMIER just started his seventh year with the club from the Loire.
At the start of the season, both clubs were slow to get going and have the same score (1 win and 3 defeats) in the first round of the Leaders Cup, quickly eliminated from the French Cup, and a disappointing start ot the championship (1 win and three defeats).
COMPLICATED START
As for the Pro B Championship, after a win against Quimper, unbeaten in the competition since that poor result, Alain THINET, the oldest coach in the second division of the French basketball lead and his men have not won anything: beaten by 22 points in Souffelweyersheim and 10 points à Antibes, beaten by 13 points against Evreux on the fourth day of the season. On average they have conceded 86.3 points in the three games they lost.
Saint-Chamond, 19-20 version
The poor defence is maybe down to the lack of choice on the bench. The five aforementioned are always there and alongside them there is only the American, Paul CARTER, taken on in late September to replace one of his compatriots who was not kept, the centre Jure SKIFIC, known for being a good scorer in three point shots, and the young French forward Théo BOUTEILLE.
THE ONE TO WATCH
Both teams will be aiming to get back on track. Poitiers will need to watch PAUMIER closely, of whom THINET recently said: “Last year, he received the ball, thought for two seconds before playing it, but this year he makes the right choice immediately.”
