Euroleague basketball returns to Israel for the first time since the start of the war which began on October 7, 2023 as Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts ASVEL Villeurbanne at Yad Eliyahu on Thursday (21:05) as excitement was in the air 24 hours before tip-off at the pregame practice. There had been plenty of anticipation for this day already for weeks, just as soon as the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect a few months ago.

With that yellow-and- blue Head Coach Oded Katash will be on the sidelines once again just as he was on October 5, 2023 when Maccabi defatted Partizan Belgrade which was the last time the Euroleague was on display in Israel until now.

“The level of excitement? I don’t know, I still can’t believe it’s happening,” Katash began. “We’ve been through so much since that game before October 7th. We’re very excited, and this is a return to sanity. We missed the fans, the energy. EuroLeague here in Israel is truly exciting, it’s special for us. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. There will be excitement and over-motivation; some players will react to it differently. Hopefully we can channel it into good things.”

With the addition of center Zach Hankins earlier in the day Katash now has a trend and tested big man who has played in Israel and in Europe which should be a help to Maccabi, “He still hasn’t had a practice with the team, we’ll have to see how he feels. I’m sure he’ll pick things up quickly. Physically, he’s in game shape, which was one of the important things for us when we were looking for a player. He’ll help us on both sides of the floor and he’s a team player which is something we need along with European experience. As a coach I had teams that played against Hankins and from what I can sense, he’s a player who thrives on team basketball, and that’s something we like to do here, so in that sense it will fit.”

Roman Sorkin also spoke about the EuroLeague’s return to Yad Eliyahu and the fans coming back for the game against ASVEL Villeurbanne, “We’re excited, we can’t believe it’s happening. They’ve started decorating the stands a bit — these are feelings we missed. I can’t wait. It’s very hard to beat us here; I think they (ASVEL) play better than their record shows, their games are close, so we’re taking this seriously. We’ll have the fans supporting us, and that will give us something extra to play for. The staff is preparing us and we’ll come ready.

“I think we look better, but it’s not enough games yet to say we’re on a run. We’re a new team, we’re in a process here, new players are joining and will get into the rhythm. I’m happy we’re looking good. Zach Hankins?

The big man added about the cub signing Zach Hankins, “It’s really strange to play with him as I’m used to playing against him. He’s a great played and he’ll give us what we were ‘missing.’ Good luck to him. It’s very hard to beat us here in the arena. We missed it and now we’ll have more time to rest without flights, that was the goal: to change the season and win more.”