Coaches Corner With Head Coach Matt Newby.

Head Coach Matt Newby brings another update from the team ahead of this Fridays home game against Glasgow Rocks with a new Coaches Corner.

“This week we see a rematch with the Glasgow Rocks at the University Of Worcester Arena, following a tough loss on the road and a hit to our form we will be looking to bounce back and rewrite the script.

The Rocks despite been in the lower ranks of the league table came out well prepared and fired up on home soil and all credit should go to Gareth Murray and his charges who were relentless both in their effort and application both on offence and defence.  Critically they defended their home turf and showed significant improvement in all quarters.

I genuinely felt we have improved significantly in the last two weeks with strong performances and results against Leicester, Sheffield and Surrey.  However Glasgow exploited frailties in our half-court defence on the night and capitalised on what was a balanced game in terms of possessions.  Furthermore they generated turnovers and out-rebounded us, this afforded them the additional possessions to stretch out their lead, which on the whole they managed well, a further compliment should go to the rocks for their aggressive play which generated 24 free-throws.

We showed little more bite and fight late in the game but the reality was we put ourselves in a tough position to close out. I feel this will be an exciting encounter with Glasgow buoyed from their 3^rd win of the season and no doubt hungry for more they are only 4 or 6 points away respectively from Surrey and Bristol and with similar games played and have 3 games in hand over Manchester.  Arguable with their run in, which sees  1 game against Surrey and Manchester respectively and 2 against Bristol; a push for 8^th place is more than possible with 13 games remaining.  No doubt Coach Murrays warrior spirit and keen basketball intellect will be evident throughout this period and we know we are in for a tough night at the office.

Where do we stand?  We very much have our own destiny in our hands with 11 games remaining, we have proved we can match up the teams in the top four however we need to be able to do this consistently and close out the season with consistency.  The run in we have affords no rest bite with all teams with something to play for as discussed the bottom of the league is still open to an extent with some exciting games whose results offer a variety of outcomes in terms of where teams could place.

In the upper deck we see the top four flexing slightly and a number of teams in the middle order including ourselves with the ability to punch their way in.  Within these 11 games remaining nothing will come easy in what has been a much improved BBL this year in such adverse conditions. 

As the youngest team in the league we know we need to show more maturity and discipline at key junctures in the game, when we do we are capable of really strong performances and some of the most exciting basketball in the league.  The players are committed to this process and are striving for the consistency already mentioned to make our playoff push.”

Image courtesy of Chris Cox.