Maccabi Tel Aviv heads to Turkey for a date with Anadolu EFES in Euroleague action on Thursday (19:30) as the Yellow & Blue will look to continue their winning ways in continental action after a week off due to the State Cup.

Interim coach Avi Even’s squad enters the matchup with an 11-12 record goof for 12th place and a chance to reach .500 however they are 4-6 in their last ten games and have a record of 3-9 on the road. Ergin Ataman’s team is in 10th place with a 12-12 record and are 6-4 in their last ten games.

The Yellow & Blue will be without the services of Keenan Evans and Roman Sorkin who both tested positive for COVID-19 while forward Angelo Caloiaro has an ankle injury. Even isn’t to concerned with the players who will be missing and looks at his squad as being able to overcome the absences.

“We try to win every game and EFES is one of the best teams over the past few seasons. But we have to look inwards at ourselves what we can do to win. We have a deep squad and we will have do do who will be with us and those who aren’t, aren’t. We want to continue what we did in Eilat and we want to keep working on ourselves as a team.”
 
Israeli forward Oz Blayzer is also looking to pick up another win despite being a but shorthanded, “We believe that we can win and we are going to EFES to do just that. Every player who is missing is a loss, but we will do what we can with the group that we have. Hopefully we can continue to play well and win as much as we can the rest of the season. We are taking every game one at a time with the goal of making the playoffs.”

One player who will be putting in double duty this week will be Jake Cohen who travelled to Turkey with Maccabi and will then return back to play for the Israel National Team on Friday afternoon as he will be on two different courts for two different teams in less than 24 hours!

“I think that this is the toughest 48 hours of my career. Conference Championships in college we played back to back, tournaments in high school we would play 7 games on a weekend. It’s a nice throwback to my younger days. I’m excited about it,” Cohen said.

The Davidson forward has been playing in Israel for close to a decade and has been one of the anchors for the Israel National Team since joining its ranks back in 2017 when the head coach at the time Oded Katash brought him abroad. The naturalized Israeli who also played for the Blue & White in the youth ranks doesn’t count against the squads one naturalized position which is also a benefit for the team.

“The National Team means a lot to me. It’s one of the best experiences that I’ve had as a professional, it’s pure basketball and everyone just wants to win. There is no ulterior motives, it’s pure. If I can have the opportunity to represent Israel I’m going to do it.”

“I expressed to Ami (Bitton, the team manager) and the National Team that I would do it if they were ok with it and I am grateful that they are because I think it is a real cool opportunity. How many guys can play Euroleague one night and then represent their country the next. I think it’s great.”

Coach Even also knows what type of special person Cohen is for his commitment to the flag and of course to the Yellow & Blue, “I want to say that it’s a privilege for any coach to have a player like Jake Cohen.”

And that is the truth.

As for the game itself, Cohen looks at this as an opportunity to build upon their league win earlier in the week, “I don’t think that we are underdogs and I think that we are playing a good team and we need to focus on ourselves. If we play a good game we will have a chance to win. If not then we probably won’t because they are a talented team. We’re just going to focus on continuing to improve and we had a good first step under coach Avi against Eilat and we want to continue the momentum.”

 
Cohen who did not have a big role for Sfairopoulos in the State Cup Derby defeat will look to get back to the same player he was against CSKA Moscow and versus Eilat as he will do what is needed to help the team win, “I’m just ready to play, I am not thinking of the specifics of it, however coach wants to use me I’ll be ready. That’s my job and that’s what I want to do.”