The Israel State Cup Week is underway as the semifinals of the competition will be played Sunday and Monday in the capital city as Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Herzliya will tip-off in the first game while a Tel Aviv Derby between Maccabi and Hapoel will take to the court in the second matchup with the final being played on Thursday.

To kick off the proceedings, a pregame press conference took place on Saturday night featuring the Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon and Captain Yovel Zoosman as well as Herzliya bench boss Yehu Orland and captain Frederic Bourdillon.

“We have been preparing for knockout games the entire month,” Alon said as his team has been the midst of qualifying for the EuroCup postseason. We will come into this game exactly like that as we have yet been able to beat Herzliya so this game will be a chance to do so.”

Orland began his opening statement speaking about the current state of the nation, “These are complicated days that we are experiencing as a country, as the nation of Israel. As for the game, we are a young team that has been able to come into the big games this season very well. The guys are very hungry and we see that everyday. I am coaching a very talented team for their age and we are really not looking at the other teams but us.“

“We are a part of what has been going in this country due to the war,” Alon mentioned as a number of the team’s fans have been killed by Hamas at the beginning of the war, as hostages and as part of the IDF. “It’s a part of us and we are part of their families. The players feel this as well and as a club as a whole. The players have to execute and be at the top of their play in order for us to win. We are expecting a big battle.”

The game will be played in Jerusalem’s home arena and that is an advantage according to Zoosman, “It’s a big advantage that we are playing in our home arena but it’s still a cup game. However, we know the baskets, the rims and the facility. All in all being in the State cup is why we are playing basketball. We want to come as focused as possible to this game.”

“I don’t think that the arena is a big deal,” Orland said. “All of the guys have played in big areas in college and they have played key games in tyat type of environment so it shouldn’t really influence the team at all.”

“The pressure is on Jerusalem,” Bourdillon explained. “We are playing in front of 7,000-8,000 fans and we will play our game. When we play our best basketball we can beat everyone, it’s five against five on the floor. We started the year with a specific identity as a young team and we have to be super aggressive and really that’s why we are here because we have been aggressive. We want to show it against a big team like Jerusalem.”

Zoosman feels that these games are always close and will be decided by the slightest minutiae, “I think that what will win the game are the same details. It will be 40 minutes that will be a very close game and it will all go down to the wire. In order to get in we have to be focused and come with the right energy.”

While Orland’s lineup is fixed and the imports that will play are pretty much set in stone, but that’s not the case for Alon and Jerusalem as they have 7 to select five from. Austin Wiley is coming back from injury and it’s not clear if he will play but regardless, the Reds bench boss hinted that, “he has some ideas of what he may want to do.”

As for an interesting fact, Orland won the State Cup with Jerusalem under the head coach Dan Shamir and assistant coach Yonatan Alon, “It was very exciting to win the cup with Jerusalem when I was a player and Yonatan was an assistant. But now we are in different roles and maybe it will help me that I was a player in this type of game so I can bring that experience with me. I was in four cup finals as a player, two wins and losses and I can bring that into the game. But it doesn’t say anything about our team. While I’m very concerned heading into the game, I also trust us as a club and the system that we are playing.”