Nes Ziona will be back in action following the international break as they will head up to Gan Ner where they will meet Hapoel Afula on Friday afternoon at 1pm. Amit Sherf’s team will be looking to pick up where they left off last game when they defeated Kiryat Ata at home while they will also see if Ryan Turell can continue his fine play since returning to action after suffering a knee injury.

The 25-year old Valley Village, California native made his Israeli league debut earlier in November at Hapoel Holon where he was able to get his feet wet with 6 points in 12 minutes and less than a week later he dropped 16 points in 23 minutes, going a perfect 6/6 from the field to earn MVP honors.

Following that game against Kiryat Ata, The Sports Rabbi spoke to both Head Coach Amit Sherf and Turell about his time so far in Nes Ziona, expectations, how far the team can go this season as well as the rehab process that got him back on the court.

“First of all, we brought Ryan in because we thought, that even when you bring in a foreigner who hasn’t played in Europe yet, you never quite know how they will react and adjust,” Sherf began. “In college, he was amazing, but he was also in Division III and after that he spent two years in the G-League where he had some great games but there were also those where he didn’t play or was ineffective. Before a player like this arrives, it’s very hard to know the passion and commitment we would get. We knew he was a player, hustled and had a good shot, but one never can tell how a signing like this would turn out until you see one in action. We saw him play some 3-on-3 and you could tell right there and then that he could bring it, so at that point we believed that he could really help us.”

“He arrived a bit late and then incurred a knee injury after he had been very good in an exhibition game,” the bench boss continued. “He had been a part of a number of training sessions with us up until that point but then we knew he would be out for some time. I knew that entering a system, understanding the league a bit and getting a feel for it is completely different than just watching from the side. Some of the rules are different and there’s an adjustment period for that as well. He’s still getting into shape and after a free throw he asked to be substituted out, so I had to play him a bit less than I wanted to because he was just winded after two or three sprints down the court. But I did feel him physically there and he was sharp.”

Turell, who hadn’t played in a couple of months was ready to roll he explained how he readied to get back onto the court, “It was very tough for me especially right when it happened, I didn’t know if I was going to be out for the year and all of those thoughts were going through my head. But I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason and Hashem blessed me that it was just the MCL and that I was able to get back within there months. Gal has been amazing with me, getting me back to full strength. Alon has been amazing with me making sure that I am in shape and making sure that everything feels right before I stepped on the court. Nes Ziona in general making sure that I got my MRIs and making sure that I was ready to play before they put me out there. I am just blessed to be playing this year and hopefully keep getting better and compete.”

The Yeshiva University swingman also spoke about how he couldn’t wait to get back onto the floor, “I have all this energy from not being on the court for so long and I’m excited to be back and effect the game any way I can. You can’t control how many times you are going to touch the ball and you can’t control how many minutes you are going to get. But what you can control is your energy and I try to bring energy as much as I can every time that I step on the floor and the team fed off of that and started bringing every play. I was happy I was able to impact the game that way.”

Sherf overall was very happy with Turell’s performance, “He didn’t force anything and things came together because he is energetic, went after every ball, helped us with rebounding and had a number of uncontested 3-pointers. Since this was his first home game I also understand that he wanted to make a connection with the fans and his enthusiasm is something that gives us a lot, fires up the players and the supporters and gave us momentum to keep us right there during the most difficult minutes.”

“I love feeding off of the crowd,” Turell said. “I love feeding off of the home fans who come out and support us. If we can make the game more entertaining and use their energy on their court and we used their energy as it helped us get going on the court then hopefully they will keep getting louder as the season goes on. I didn’t know much about the league. I did a transition take foul from behind a guy so I am still learning the league. But I feel like I can play at this level and I feel that I can play very well at this level and I’m excited to keep growing and keep getting better with this team.”

How far can Nes Ziona go? Turell thinks that the sky’s the limit, “This team is very talented and has a lot of upside, a mistake I made in the past, in college where I was first getting started was looking ahead. We got to really focus on every game and make sure that we win every single game. We can’t look past opponents and say we hope we get them or hope we get them or hyped up for this game or hyped up for that game. Every single game we have to play like it’s our last game, every single game we got to play as if we are not going to make the playoffs. Just take it one game at a time and bring the energy.”