Back to The Jungle to extend winning run

Adelaide 36ers will be looking to continue a two-game winning streak when the club head back to Perth to face the Wildcats on Saturday night at RAC Arena.

Saturday night’s showdown will be the third time the two sides have met in the opening month of the NBL24 season.

The Wildcats are on a four-game losing streak and are coming off a loss on their home court last round to an undermanned Brisbane Bullets side, missing star big man Aron Baynes (suspension) and Shannon Scott (hamstring).

During the week, Wildcats owner Craig Hutchison backed Perth head coach John Rillie and the said the club had “full faith” in Rillie to turn things around, despite falling to eighth place on the NBL standings with a 2-5 record.

“We believe in our coach and we believe in this team,” Hutchison told Code Sports.

“We’re confident things will turn in the right direction with some tweaks.”

THE KEY
To his lofty three-time champion and three-time MVP standards, Wildcats star import guard Bryce Cotton has had a slow start to his NBL24 campaign.

Last week, Cotton scored just 10 points on three-of-19 shooting from the field, which would put 36ers head coach CJ Bruton and his staff on high alert.

The 182cm scoring machine has averaged 22.2 points per night across his 186-game NBL career to date, but in seven games this season, his average is down to 14.4 points per game.

Cotton scored 19 points when the Wildcats defeated Adelaide 82-75 on October 6, but the 36ers reduced the combo guard to just 11 points when the 36ers won 89-78 on Brett Maher Court on October 21.

Expect Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch McCarron to get the first assignment on Cotton and don’t be surprised if Sunday Dech gets the match-up late in the game, especially in the final quarter.

THE SECRET
Perth recruited heavily around the NBL over the off-season, and added Keanu Pinder, David Okwera and Hyrum Harris to the roster ahead of the NBL24 season.

Okwera has not seen much court time following a breakout year at United, while Pinder has battled injury during his off-season move to the Wildcats from Cairns Taipans.

Pinder looms large inside for Perth, who is coming of a 17-point, 13-rebound double against the 36ers 10 days ago, and believes the Wildcats are primed to go on a winning run soon – everything just has to click into place.

“I don’t think we have to change too much,” Pinder said following the loss to Brisbane last Friday.

 “After these losses the guys have been highly motivated ... and everyone is taking this to heart. The fire is burning inside them, you can tell.

“We’ve had great weeks of practices after these losses and come game time, it hasn’t been clicking for us.

“If we keep doing the same things we’re working on with JR we’re going to explode and take off and have a five or six game win streak and fire off.

“I really believe that and the guys really believe that ... it’s going to happen.”

READ MORE

• Introducing our NBL24 Indigenous Jersey
• DJ thrilled with 36ers' new found focus
• Bruton says Vasiljevic adds another dimension

DEPTH CHART
PG: T. Webster / Zunic / Russo-Nance
SG: Cotton / C Webster / Henshall
SF: Usher / H Harris / M Harris
PF: Doolittle / Wagstaff / Okwera
C: Pinder / Sarr / Andrew

THE FINAL WORD
This match has huge ramifications for both sides so early into the NBL24 campaign.

Adelaide can get on a three-game winning streak with success at RAC Arena, move to a 4-5 record with two home games coming up on November 11 and 17, while the Wildcats will be keen to stop a four-game losing streak.

The 36ers must expect Perth to come out breathing fire, especially after the amount of pressure put on head coach Rillie this week, Adelaide must match the Wildcats intensity from the opening tip.

After exploding late last round against the Breakers and also scoring heavily in the first half against the Wildcats last time, Perth will be putting a lot of work into curtailing to impact of DJ Vasiljevic.

How Adelaide counter this defence from the Wildcats will be key, and Isaac Humphries has had two huge games so far this season against Perth, including a 26-point, eight-rebound MVP performance on October 21.

The 36ers have got some momentum going after the past two performances and need to continue to improve to keep rising up the NBL24 standings.