Maccabi Tel Aviv tips-off against Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday (21:05) at Yad Eliyahu while Hapoel Tel Aviv will visit Serbia to face Red Star (21:00) at the Belgrade Arena in Gameday 26 Euroleague action.

The yellow-and-blue enter their clash looking to improve on their 10-15 record as they find themselves in 14th place, four wins out of a Play In spot in 10th place while Partizan is in 18th place with a 8-17 record so far this campaign.

Head Coach Oded Katash will have to contend with the likes of Sterling Brown and Cam Payne while they will also need to pay attention to Dylan Osetkowski, “We don’t have much time to recover and get ready for another busy week. I’m not sure how much we’ll get in terms of legs from the players who are coming back, from the injured players who are still missing. We’ll need the push from our crowd, because we need that energy. Partizan played two good games recently. They’re a team that’s worth more than their results.”

Jaylen Hoard shared his thoughts ahead of the game, “I feel like we have a pretty good job against any team, but in the EuroLeague, every team is tough. Even though they’ve been going through a lot this season, they’ve got a talented roster, a lot of guys who can do damage on offense. We’re going to have to take the game seriously, play with energy, play with intensity, and feed off our crowd as we go for the win.”

Joan Penarroya, Partizan’s head coach also commented on the upcoming match, “Maccabi have been playing very well, especially over the past few weeks and they’ve had strong results at home. They’re an energetic team that plays with a lot of activity for all 40 minutes, so we need to be solid on both ends of the court throughout the entire game. We have to be especially careful at times when they can make very difficult shots. They have a lot of talent, and we’ll also need to control their fast-break opportunities. At the same time, we’re improving day by day and Tuesday’s game will be another chance for us to prove ourselves.”

Last month, Maccabi notched a terrific win in Belgrade when they dominated Partizan and Marcio Santos hopes that this will carryover, “We know we played a good game against them on their home court, but now they changed the coach, they changed their style, so they’re playing with a better tempo and intensity. We need to match their energy. We know we’re at home, so we’ve got the fans behind us, which helps a lot.”

Katash needs to collect wins and with a double week that will see then playing at Red Star on Friday gives them a chance to try and make up some ground as they look upwards at the Paly In Spot that may be slipping away.

“There’s no doubt that the return both in terms of numbers and in wins and losses, coming back to Israel has done us good,” the coach added, referring to the chances of reaching the Play In. “We’re not thinking about that too much; it would be a bit presumptuous to say that. We need to think game by game and see how things develop.”

Over at Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Reds will look to get back onto the winning track after tumbling out of first place as they now sit in 3rd place with a 16-8 record behind Fenerbahce who are 17-7 and Olympiacos who have an identical record as Dimitrios Itoudis squad. Red Star is always a challenging endeavor especially at home and following that Hapoel will head back home to take on Valencia who are in 4th place with a 16-9 record.

However, there has been talk that this contest will be held in Bulgaria due to the Spanish government’s potential refusal to grant Valencia permission to travel to Israel due to the Iranian threat.

Itoudis spoke about the upcoming game against Red Star, “We’re here in Belgrade meeting a team like Zvezda that is right now playing very good basketball at home as well and they’re in full power and full roster and makes our task very difficult but we’re here to give our fights.”

Dan Oturu alos chimed in, “Ready to take on a big challenge against Zvezda. We’re focused on getting back to winning ways and putting the recent defeats behind us. We need to come in prepared, stay united, and be ready to handle a hostile environment.”