HUSKIES vs SHARKS - SUNDAY / THE SILVERDOME @ 5PM (AUS) / 7PM (NZ)
A late Sunday afternoon clash from Launceston that is sure to attract lots of viewers around the dinner table back in NZ.
Both teams come in off a loss last week and both certainly had their chances to win, so expect plenty of desperation on display. The Huskies are now at full strength and will be pleased with what they saw from Marcel Jones last week, however for the Sharks there has been plenty of change over the last couple of weeks and it has them looking a little unsettled right now.
This clash comes with a number of exciting individual battles, of particular interest will be who Jones and Nichols go to?
This is a new venue for the Huskies, so home court advantage may not be as significant as they would have otherwise liked.
Add to the mix the fact the Sharks will have played on Friday night in Invercargill, travelled all day Saturday across the ditch, and now have to front up against a team on the rise. It makes for a ripping contest.
HUSKIES - Starting 5 3. Tre Nichols (guard) 6. Mason Bragg (guard) 9. Craig Moller (forward) 22. Jalen Billups (forward) 62. Marcel Jones (forward)
Bench 14. Jordan Vandenburg (centre) 8. Bryan Michaels (guard) 12. Tiri Masunda (guard) 23. Lochlan Cummings (guard)
Coach: Anthony Stewart Assistant: Corey Davie Assistant: Dwain Davie Manager: Andrew Downie Physio: Revive Health
From The Coach – Anthony Stewart
Excited to be playing again this Sunday. It is the first game at the Silverdome and Northern Tasmania is the heartland of Basketball in Tasmania so we expect a good turnout to watch two quality sides in a quality competition, not seen in Launceston in over 20 years. With another full week of training under our belts and the first week with our full squad together, we are very confident of building on the performance we delivered against The Saints last Saturday. Realistically we had that game in the bag and we let it slip and those errors which cause costly turnovers have been rectified on the training floor this week.
SHARKS - Starting 5 35. Alex Pledger (centre) 97. Jarrad Weeks (guard) 22. Hyrum Harris (guard/forward) 24 . Todd Blanchfield (guard) 15. Tom Vodanovich (forward)
Bench 11. Dom Kelman-Poto (forward) 14. Tai Wynyard (centre) 23. Roberto Nelson (guard) *questionable 45. Tinashe Matambanadzo (guard)
Coach: Judd Flavell Assistant: Leyton Haddleton Manager: Troy Paulin
From The Coach – Judd Flavell This is another tough assignment for us having to travel for a full day after playing the night before but we are excited to be playing our first game on Australian soil - The Huskies definitely look to have strengthened up in last couple of weeks and are going to be a really tough team , especially at home . We will be looking to show signs of improvement from previous weeks and get some consistency going .