Ben Saraf is making his impact on the EuroCup. After brilliant displays with the Israel National Team, the Youth Euroleague team, in the Israel Premier League and last Sunday in the German League which marked his official debut in a Ulm uniform with 21 points in the road win over Chemnitz, Saraf didn’t stop and put in an equally dream debut in the EuroCup. The Israeli sensation notched his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 assists in Ulm’s 96-93 road win over Poland’s Trefl Sopot.

Throughout the season, Moshe Halickman, who has been covering Ben Saraf since 2021 for the Hebrew side of the Sports Rabbi website will now analyze the Israeli’s performances from a different point of view and from a fun angle in English too! But to find out what his final rating was you’ll need to read all the way until the end of the column.

The Good: The Starting 5
After he came off the bench and changed the game in his official debut in the German league, this time head coach Ty Harrelson chose to start have Saraf in the starting five, as the point guard of course and in doing so he actually gave him the keys to the car. This was a statement that clearly declared that Saraf is one of the stars of the team and will be counted on by the bench boss.

The Bad: First few shots
Don’t worry, this column is a positive one and will shed light on Saraf’s amazing performance, but at the same time, it’s important to provide true analysis from the opening tip. That’s why this piece will be written in a way that will be a fun read for all. Saraf tried to force himself on the game in the opening minutes and with that he was blocked time and time again while penetrating and in general missed his attempts and turned over the ball. By the end of the first quarter he recorded 2 points and finished the first half with just 4 points in all.

The Good: Defense
Saraf put in an excellent defensive display and kept the opposing 3-point shooters at bay despite being a bit late on covering his assigned player. He picked up 3 steals along the way and in the first half after battling for a ball with Tarik Phillip he ended up winning the ensuing jump ball between them. He even won a jump ball to which he jumped in the center of the floor. Saraf also made his mark with a number of deflections.

The Bad: Outside shooting
Saraf went 0/3 from deep and didn’t score a single 3-pointer over the course of the game. In his previous game he knocked down a pair from beyond the arc in the first half and in order for his outside shooting question mark to disappear he will need to find consistency from downtown. question mark on shooting from the outside to disappear completely, we need to see consistency over time. That is also true with the long 2’s that he occasionally puts up as well.

The Good: Saraf in Money Time
Saraf not only made his mark in money time he was also charged with the last ball in regulation time showing the confidence he has already been shown by his coach. He hit back-to-back buckets to tie the game up at 79-79 after being down 79-75 in the last minute of play. He also had a chance to have a hand in a winning basket as time wound down after Harrelson called his name in the timeout to take the ball and work his magic. This also shows that Saraf has confidence in himself and was not interested “in running away from responsibility” at such a high level of basketball. We recently saw how he nailed a big time shot in what could have been a game winner against Serbia at the U18 European Championships this past summer in a game that Israel ultimately lost, but what is clear is that Saraf lives for crunch time.

The Bad: The Last Shot
With the game tied at 81-81, Saraf took a shot from beyond the arc, but one that it seemed he was not completely satisfied in and it ended up being an air ball that sent the game to overtime.

The Good, the good, the good (and the good)

The Good: The second half
After a so-so first half, Saraf came into the third quarter thinking of the team first and that paid off very, very nicely for the Israeli. Although he committed some turnovers, he started racking up the assists with a trio to begin the second half. Saraf continued with this attitude in the fourth quarter and overtime period which resulted in the first double-double of his career and at the bottom line his assists nicely outnumbered his turnovers.

During the game, Saraf delivered an impressive cross court pass and above all he displayed an outstanding collaboration with Noa Essengue (18 points, 6 rebounds, 26 efficiency rating), the French talent who is also expected to be selected with one of the top picks of 2025 draft, which included an alley-oop. Saraf also picked up the assist on Alfonso Plummer’s bucket that put Ulm in the lead 81-79 with 21.1 seconds left in regulation time but in the final moments the latter lost a ball close to the basket and as mentioned earlier, Saraf missed a potential game winning 3-pointer. Saraf also recorded a “hockey assist” as well when his team needed some creativity.

The Good: Drawing fouls and the charity stripe
Even in his worst minutes, Saraf was able to draw some fouls, with some that sent him to the line in which he went 3/3 and some that did not. In total he was able to juice out 7 fouls from the Sopot players which is a very impressive amount.

The Good: The 4th quarter
In the fourth quarter, everything came together for Saraf. With only 4 points to his name after thirty minutes of play, Saraf began scoring and scoring and scoring with no less than 13 points in the frame. Saraf made his mark on his team’s comeback with his own hands and without him there is no way that Ulm walks away with the victory. Coach Harrelson kept him on the floor for the most part, save for one possession with less than 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter. In total, Saraf played 35:18 and finished the game going 7/14 from 2, but he did have a tough time scoring in overtime and had his shot blacked with the score knotted up at 93-93 in the final minute of play.

The Good: Being a good teammate
Even as he started to pick up his play as the game progressed, Saraf remained a good teammate with an encouraging word and by lending a hand. Saraf first of all made sure to remain a loyal teammate giving high-fives with a really nice one to Essengue and was vocal in the timeout as well. Great.

The Quote
Justinian Jessup who scored 20 points and hit the game winning triple with 2 second left in overtime said of Saraf, “Ben played great.”

The Rating: 10
He didn’t have to be perfectionistic perfect as Saraf couldn’t ask for a better dream debut in the EuroCup, and in fact he couldn’t ask for a better dream start to the season. He’s got a pair of 10’s in as many games so far and hats off to him for that. It’s incredible to as to how mature Saraf is at only 18 years old and how much hype he continues to accumulate, it’s like a dream. After a quiet preseason and a huge debut in the Bundesliga, the display Saraf put on in his European league debut can be considered an official stamp that his performances thus far are in no way a fluke.

The season has just begun.