A trio of Israeli teams will be in European action on Wednesday with Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Holon all playing in their respective continental competitions.

Hapoel Tel Aviv welcomes Anadolu EFES for a Euroleague Round 8 matchup at their home away from home in Sofia on Wednesday (20:00) as the Reds will look to continue their fine form in continental play as they sport a 5-2 record good for 5th place while the Turkish side sits in 13th with a 3-4 record.

Ahead of the game, coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the contest, “We are going to start another double week, against two very experienced opponents, starting with Efes and then Dubai. Efes changed the physiognomy of the team, and has brought great results. They are a very aggressive team on both ends, with different lineups and experience in every position.”

Reds big man Ish Wainright added, “We are coming of a tough defeat in the Israeli league, but we will try and bounce back and keep our streak in the EuroLeague alive. We will be facing a very challenging opponent and will need 40 minutes of full focus in order to come out with a win against Efes, who are a very demanding and aggressive team.”

EFES Head Coach Pablo Laso shared his thoughts, “Playing against Hapoel Tel Aviv is one of the toughest games you can have. The reason is simple, they have very talented players at every position. They have big names like Vasilije Micic, Elijah Bryant, Dan Oturu, Zach LeDay and Tomas Satoransky, who are individually among the best in Europe and a few of them are former Anadolu Efes players who are performing at a great level. In the end, they’ve built a team that is very difficult to stop, because just when you think you’ve got one of them under control, somebody else steps up. That says a lot about the quality of the team.”

Ercan Osmani also spoke about the clash, “After our two EuroLeague wins, we are starting a tough double-game week. Hapoel Tel Aviv is a team with outstanding players and a deep rotation. To build on our winning streak, we must be at our best and never lose our concentration at any point in the game.”

Hapoel Jerusalem will visit French side Le Mans in EuroCup play on Wednesday (21:00) for Round 5 of the EuroCup. The Reds from the capital enter the matchup following an impressive 70-60 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israeli league play and will look to carry that positive momentum onto the European stage. With a 4-0 record the reds find themselves in second place with a huge Aris matchup for first place coming up next week while Le Mans is 2-2 and will try to go a game over .500.

Ahead of the contest, head coach Sasa Obradović and Nimrod Levi discussed the challenges awaiting the team.

Sasa Obradović discussed Le Mans’ recent form and made it clear that his team faces a difficult challenge, “Le Mans is a very strong team, and they have improved significantly in their recent games. It won’t be easy to maintain control throughout the game, but that is the key to winning for us. After that big win, we need to take another step forward and approach this game with the same mindset. I believe the players have understood the message and we know how important it is to win tonight to maintain our momentum in the competition.”

Nimrod Levi said, “Le Mans is a very aggressive team with athletic players who run the floor. We will need to control the rebounds and stop their transition game. We have prepared properly, and we are coming into the game ready.”

Le Mans bench boss Guillaume Vizade also spoke about the matchup, “Facing Hapoel Jerusalem is a great challenge. I’m also delighted to see Sasa Obradovic at the helm of such a strong team. They are currently leading the group comfortably, and we’ll need to raise our game and stay fully focused to give them a real challenge.”

Forward Swann Penda added, “We know that Jerusalem is a very strong team in this competition. However, we’re approaching this game just like any other. We’re working hard and staying focused in practice. We’ll be ready to play.”

Hapoel Holon will be in Basketball Champions League action when they visit Rasta Vechta on Wednesday (20:00) as the purples will look to improve their record after having evening it up last week at 1-1 in Group F play.

Head coach Predrag Krunić said ahead of the game, “This is a very important game for us. We will be playing against a team that came through some very difficult qualifying games against good teams to earn a place in our BCL group. They have quality and the ability to play at a very high pace. We need to be ready to play good team defense, stop their transition game and control the rebounds.”