Israel's under-18 men opened their European basketball championship campaign with a statement: two wins from two games, the second a 91-77 defeat of France that head coach Nadav Zilberstein said reflects a squad with more raw athletic ability than any other Israeli national team he has worked with.
The win over France came in Trento, one of two host cities for the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2026, and moved Israel to the top of Group A, Sport5 reported. Aviv Aronov, the tournament's early breakout scorer, again led the way, finishing as Israel's top scorer with 28 points, according to FIBA's official game record, against a French side that reached last year's European final.
It followed an even more dramatic opener. Israel needed overtime to beat Greece 93-84 in their tournament curtain-raiser, with Aronov contributing 30 points and six assists and David Musis adding 26 points as Israel twice clawed back from double-digit deficits.
Discussing the France win, Zilberstein pointed to that resilience as much as the talent. "We are an excellent team, capable of doing beautiful things if we stay focused together," he said, according to Sport5 — before adding the line that will carry weight with Israeli basketball followers: relative to the country's other national teams, this group has "exceptional athletic talent."
He reserved specific praise for Aronov, calling him "a very special player and scorer" who is "constantly committed" on the floor, while noting — with the candour of a coach managing a teenager's game — that he sometimes forces shots he does not need to take.
Zilberstein also framed the tournament in developmental terms, telling Sport5 the group is being shaped with an eye on eventually feeding Israel's senior national teams, and describing the squad as psychologically tough enough not to be rattled by a deficit — a trait borne out against Greece.
Israel next face Austria to close out the group phase, with Zilberstein flagging Wednesday's follow-up fixture as the one that matters most for carrying the momentum forward. Israel has been an established Division A presence at U18 level since returning to the top tier in 2022, and this Aronov-led squad has been mentioned by FIBA's own tournament preview as a genuine contender to reach the competition's podium for the first time in the country's history.
