The Maccabi big man became the first 30-point scorer at this year’s EuroBasket
Roman Sorkin went off to lead Israel over Iceland
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The pressure was going to be on Roman Sorkin on Thursday. The Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv big man is coming off his best EuroLeague season to date and is the starting center for the Israeli national team. In their EuroBasket 2025 opener, Sorkin was tasked with a matchup against Iceland's Tryggvi Hlinason, a mountain of a man at 2.15 meters, who has 7-centimeter advantage over Sorkin.
While Hlinason recorded 10 rebounds in the first half alone and posted an impressive line of 13 points and 14 boards for the game, there was no question about who won the matchup of centers. Sorkin went off for a game-high 31 points using his combination off speed, toughness and outside shooting to lead Israel to an 83-71 victory in Katowice, Poland.
Sorkin made 9 of 12 two-pointers and 4 of 7 threes. He added 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block to produce a PIR of 31. He became the first player at the tournament this year to score at least 30 points, too.
"The first game is always important, because it's the first game," Sorkin said after the game. "You don't know what to expect. How to play, the crowd, the environment, everything. I think we completed the first mission of ours, but we're looking forward. We want to come humble to every game and try to win every game we play. We respect, of course, the opponent, but we want to make it each day, get better and win the day."
When asked about his scoring, Sorkin remained humble: "We won, so we are among the teams with 1-0 records. That’s more important. I’m happy, really happy guys. I scored a lot. It’s fun. I won’t lie, it’s fun. But it really doesn’t matter. This is the national team. We have more important goals."
Israel led by 4 points at the break before Sorkin scored the first 5 points of the third quarter, sparking a 9-0 run. He added another 2 triples in the quarter to stretch the lead to a 56-39. When Iceland fought back in the fourth quarter, Sorkin stepped up again with a triple and an alley-oop slam to shut the door on a comeback.
Iceland head coach Craig Pedersen was asked after the game about how Israel's ability to play pick-and-pop basketball with Sorkin affected the game and limited Hlinason's overall impact.
"It creates some problems and we knew that [Sorkin] was a good shooter and he showed it today," Pedersen responded. "They gave us some problems with Sorkin shooting from the outside and he took advantage of it, and he had a very strong game."
In Israel’s second game of the tournament, on Saturday against host Poland, Sorkin will have another challenge going against former EuroLeague champion Aleksander Balcerowski. After watching what he was able to do against Iceland, Poland has been warned not to take the Israeli center lightly.