College Hoops has taken the Holy Land by storm as the University of Arizona took on Ryan Turell and the Israel Select Team at the Hadar Yosef National Sports Center in front of a packed house thanks to Athletes for Israel. The Wildcats came out on top 124-77 over the Israeli side but Turell was the talk of the town leading all scorers with 30 points in a game that was attended by Israeli legends Tal Brody and Miki Berkowitz.

Tommy Lloyd squad started out slow but soon took the game to the Select Team as San Diego State transfer Keshad Johnson led the way with 24 points to pace the Wildcats while Paulius Murauskas added 17 points and Filip Borovicanin scored 13 points, grabbed 8 boards and dished out 6 assist to notch the 47-point victory.

Next up will be Kansas State University who will take on Turell and the Israel Select Team on Tuesday night at 7pm back at Hadar Yosef.

“First time out and hadn’t done more than a ten minute scrimmage here or there this summer,” Lloyd said. “So just to get up and down like that for an extended period of time gave a little bit of a feel for it and I’m happy. There will be a lot to learn rom it both positive and negative.”

“I thought the atmosphere was good and it was really cool. The Arizona fan base is a force you show up at a gym in Tel Aviv and unexpectedly there are Arizona fans that you don’t know and have Arizona shirts on. There is a legacy there or they went to Arizona it was juts really cool. You wish you could do something like this annually and you can really build a fan base over here. It was great debut for us here and I’m excited that we got to play in front of these fans.”

Ryan Turell also spoke about playing in the Holy Land for the very first time, “It’s truly a blessing as it’s always been a dream of mine to play in Israel and to come out here with Athletes for Israel is really special. We got put together like a week ago so it was really tough but once we got going, we got going but it was tough to get that chemistry in one week. Arizona is a powerhouse and are really well coached, talented team and I hope nothing for the best for them. I think they can win the national championship this year.”