Russia are keeping their feet firmly on the ground despite another morale-boosting win against hosts Turkey in the Efes Pilsen World Cup 2 tournament.

Sergei Elevich's men, accustomed to all-star performances from their former CSKA Moscow star and current Utah Jazz big man Andrei Kirilenko, rode the hot hand of their NBA player in the second half of Wednesday night's game and prevailed 75-66.

It was the first match in the event for both sides.

"I wouldn't want to overestimate this win," Elevich said.

"The players haven't got any kind of euphoria. We have preparation for the European Championship due to the plan and it's the main thing. We have intensive training both on the days of the games and between the games."

Numbers like the 27 points that Kirilenko poured in - 19 after half-time -jump off the scoresheet but Elevich preferred to emphasise his side's performance on the other side of the ball.

"We beat Turkey mainly thanks to aggressive and compact playing in defence," he said. "This is what we require from the players."

Russia trailed 54-50 going into the final quarter but reeled off the first 14 points of the frame and exploded for 25 points overall while restricting Turkey to just 12.

In addition to his points tally, Kirilenko grabbed nine rebounds. Valentin Kubrakov chipped in 13 points and had six rebounds in a winning cause.

Turkey's NBA players Hidayet Turkoglu (San Antonio) and Mehmet Okur (Detroit) paced the home side with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Elevich senses the Turkey tournament, with the Eurobasket starting in Sweden on September 5, is when his players must come of age.

"The Istanbul tournament is the last and very important check-up of some playing components for us, including the team's interaction both in attack and in defence," he said.

Russia's next game in the tournament is on Friday against Latvia.

Russia squad list for Efes Pilsen World Cup 2 tournament: Guards -  Dmitri Domani, Vasili Karasev, Valentin Kubrakov, Alexander Miloserdov,  Zakhar Pashutin, Petr Samoylenko, Vladimir Demin; forwards - Sergei Monya, Mikhail Soloviev, Andrei Kirilenko, Victor Hryapa, centres - Alexander  Bashminov, Denis Ershov, Fedor Likholitov, Alexei Savrasenko.