Maccabi Tel Aviv welcomes Red Star Belgrade on Gameday 12 of the Euroleague on Thursday (21:00) at Yad Eliyahu. The Yellow & Blue will try to break a there game losing streak after having fallen to Real Madrid, Valencia and Milano while Crvena Zvezda have lost two in a row to Barcelona and EFES and sport a 4-7 record.

When a fan of Israeli basketball looks at the Serban squad’s roster, they’ll notice plenty of family names from the past few seasons. In fact, Corey Walden, Jordan Loyd, Taylor Rochestie, Johnny O’Bryant and Emanuel Terry make up a pretty good starting lineup under veteran coach Sasa Obradovic.

Terry who played featured for Hapoel Jerusalem last season spoke to The Sports Rabbi about continuing his basketball career in Serbia, getting a shot to play in the Euroleague and of course returning to play in Israel with some unfinished business against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“It’s going to be a great experience returning back to Israel after playing for Jerusalem a few months back. I’m looking forward to the environment and feel. It’s definitely a game that we have to perform really well in.

“Maccabi is a great team and losing to them prior is a big deal to me as I feel that they know my style and I know most of their players. It should be a good game as long as we come in focussed I feel like we will perform very well.”

After having featured in the NBA and the Champions League, this will be the Birmingham, Alabama native’s first foray into the Euroleague and he’s excited to be in the continent’s most well known competition. “First and foremost playing in the Euroleague is a blessing and that shows that my talent and my skill level wasn’t unnoticed.”

Terry has also been acclimating to his new surroundings in Belgrade, “Adjusting with Red Star has been a great experience so far, from the coaching staff to my teammates and just learning a different style of play by playing in Serbia. For the short time I’ve been here I’ve definitely gotten close to my teammates and have learned how they play and they’ve learned my style. The more games we play and as the season goes on we will get even closer.”

As for goals for this season, Terry wants to make his mark both on and off of the court with his new club, “My goals are to perform at a high level and continue to get better. Stay consistent, bring my energy to the floor and practice off the court as much as I can so years down the road everyone knows that I came here with the proper mindset and affected the game in a positive way.”