TEL AVIV (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - It's too early to draw any conclusions about Israel's prospects of reaching next year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in China, although a home victory over Estonia on November 24 was certainly crucial.

Israel followed that result up, however, with a heavy defeat at Greece.

As Israel prepare to host Great Britain on February 23 and then play at Estonia two days later, there is a positive vibe. The young squad of players and coach Oded Katash believe the program is moving in the right direction.

Jake Cohen, a former Davidson College standout and now in his fifth professional season, is a 27-year-old forward who got a chance to play for the national team in November and logged big minutes.

He helped Israel win their first game against Estonia, 88-68, and also featured prominently in their 82-61 defeat at Greece three days later.

"It's disappointing to lose but I'm still really optimistic about the team," Cohen said. "We hadn't played together for a long time...even though we lost and we didn't play nearly as well as we wanted to, we've got a long way to go. Luckily we have more games to play, more chances to get better."

Israel had 16 turnovers in the win over Estonia, a number that is acceptable if only because they won decisively. However against Greece, Cohen and Co. had 26 turnovers, including 17 in the first half.

"Our next step is to learn from those mistakes and get better as a team and the next time we come around in February, I'm very confident we'll get better as a team because of this experience," Cohen said.

"It's unrealistic to expect that we're going to play perfectly. I don't want to make excuses, though, and we certainly need to get better from it. It's going to come with time. It's not something with us snapping our fingers and say, okay, we're not going to turn the ball over anymore. It's going to take time to learn each other, learn the new system, learn offenses, learn where each guy likes the ball. It's not something you can rush."

"OUR NEXT STEP IS TO LEARN FROM THOSE MISTAKES AND GET BETTER AS A TEAM AND THE NEXT TIME WE COME AROUND IN FEBRUARY, I'M VERY CONFIDENT WE'LL GET BETTER AS A TEAM BECAUSE OF THIS EXPERIENCE" CohenCohen

Katash took on the Israeli job after the country's disappointing performance at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 and told everyone that patience would be required since so many youngsters would be involved in the team.

His team's 1-1 start has not dampened his enthusiasm.

"We've just started something new with the windows, the way we have to prepare the team," he said. "We're building a young team with a positive group of people. I really enjoy coaching them.

"We had a lack of experience against Greece. In a way, we lost that game in the first half. We turned the ball over a lot and we have to learn from that. But I'm happy for that experience, especially the young players, a young team, and I'm sure we'll learn from that."

FIBA