Hapoel Tel Aviv will be in Euroleague action on Wednesday night as the Reds host Besiktas (19:00) in Sofia while Hapoel Jerusalem will head to Burgos for a EuroCup date in Spain.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s side enters the matchup with the newcomer with a 2-2 record in the front end of a Double Week that will see his Reds visit Panathinaikos on Friday evening. Ahead of the contest, the bench boss along with Jacob Toppin spoke about the challenge at hand versus the Turkish side.

“Besiktas are a very energetic team,” the bench boss began. “With a great roster that has a lot of experience and a lot of athleticism. They put a lot of pressure on the ball, and for us it is the start of another double game week, so we will try to start off with a win against a very demanding team.”

Jacob Toppin added, “We bounced back from the loss to Valencia in the [Israeli] league game, but now we want to do the same in the EuroLeague and start a tough double week with an important win. Besiktas are a very good team and we will need to be focused for 40 minutes in order to come out with a victory, so we will do our best.”

Dusan Alimpijevic, the Besiktas head coach shared his thoughts, “At the beginning of this double-game week, we will face a team that, based on its roster, is one of the four best teams in the league. Hapoel is a team with a lot of experienced players, full of confidence, good size, and also possessing a great deal of individual quality. We have to try to maintain our offensive rhythm and never allow ourselves to get drawn into their slightly slower rhythm.”

Besiktas forward Conor Morgan also spoke about the upcoming game, “Against a very experienced team, we’re looking forward to go out and execute our game plan, focusing on ourselves and give the best energy we can to keep our Euroleague record improving. We want to come out with lots of energy and effort, play fast and we believe it’s going to be a good one.”

As for Sasa Obradovic and his Hapoel Jerusalem team are 2-0 and will look to continue their winning streak when they play in Burgos a team that is new to the competition but had played for many years in Europe as one of the top teams in the Basketball Champions League.

“This is a very challenging game,” Obradovic began. “We have to improve our structure even more compared to the previous games. We’re growing from game to game and getting better. The game against Burgos is another test for us, and every game on the road is extremely important.”

Big man Dusan Miletic also looked ahead to the clash, “It’s a very important game for us. Burgos runs the floor well and brings a lot of physicality. I feel that we must match their energy, show our own physicality, and match their intensity on both ends of the floor.”

Burgos Head Coach Porfi Fisac spoke about what Jerusalem brings to the table, “We’re going to go up against an amazing team. They have a lot of options to score. They won the last two games. For us, it is very important every time we play in front of our supporters to play with discipline. We need to grow a little bit in our one-on-one defense.”

Center Balsa Koprivica talked about the contest as well, “Hapoel is a very good team, and this year they’re definitely building a team to try to compete for the EuroCup title, so it’s going to be a very difficult game for us, especially after the two difficult away losses that we just had. It’s going to be very important for us to come into the game, in front of our home crowd, and try to improve on the mistakes we made in the last few games and stay together as a team.”