The Auburn Tigers wrapped up a business trip to Israel on Monday following a challenging game against the Israeli National Team, where they were defeated 95-86.
In the final game of the tour, guard Wendell Green Jr. had the luxury of matching up with Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija, who is spending the summer competing with the best players from his home country of Israel on their national squad. The matchup was a fierce one, as both players were the leading scorer for their respective clubs, Avdija scored 25 and Green ended with 18.
Green feels that the matchup was great for his development.
“Just being matched up, he guarded me most of the game. I think I got his respect tonight,” Green said following the game. “It was just fun to match up against a pro, somebody that is in the league. That’s my dream. I want to make the NBA one day. It was just fun to match up against somebody like that for 40 minutes.”
Green had a successful exhibition slate, averaging 10.6 points over three games. While he benefitted from playing from a basketball standpoint, Green says that he is thankful for the opportunity to travel abroad to a country such as Israel.
With the NCAA’s rule of allowing college programs to travel abroad once every four years, it is rare for a college student to get the opportunity to hone their basketball skills while taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Green says that he did not take this trip for granted.
“I keep saying, ‘Recognize your blessing,’” Green said. “I don’t know anybody else who has done this in my life, besides my teammates, so it’s just a blessing to come here. You never know when you’ll come back to Israel. Just recognize your blessings.”
The trip to Israel was mostly about basketball, but the program got to visit important historical markers as well as encounter the experience of swimming in the Dead Sea, even though it resulted in an unfortunate personal event for Green.
“That was the craziest thing, floating in the Dead Sea,” Green said. “I broke my phone in the Dead Sea, which is sad. But other than that, it was fun to float on the water. You can’t do that anywhere else on Earth.”
Once the team returns to campus, they will have just over 80 days to prepare for the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Auburn will face Alabama-Huntsville in an exhibition on Nov. 2 before opening the season against George Mason on Nov. 7. Both games will be played at Neville Arena.
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