All signs positive for 'work in progress' JackJumpers

Whether it was the presence of outgoing Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan in a Tasmania JackJumpers jersey courtside or just their trademark grit and grind, Scott Roth had plenty to like from his team's overtime win in Brisbane on Saturday night.

The JackJumpers might still be missing Majok Deng, Bryce Hamilton, Anthony Drmic and Ben Ayre early this NBL season, but they just completed two wins in 72 hours when they backed up a home win over Melbourne United by beating the Brisbane Bullets in overtime.

That 107-95 win over the Bullets at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre was with proud Tasmanian Fagan sitting courtside sporting a JackJumpers jersey having just coached the Brisbane Lions to a third straight AFL premiership.

Roth has developed a special relationship with Fagan since coaching the JackJumpers and would love to have him there at more games as a good luck charm.

"A big shoutout to Fages in the building, he's obviously a Tasmanian and a huge supporter of us," Roth said.

"His record is undefeated, every time he seems to show up we end up winning so congratulations to him and his three-peat and good luck in retirement.

"To have the GOAT in the locker after the game was a massive thing for our group, and he's been a great friend of mine the last few years so kudos to him and the Brisbane Lions."

Coming off Thursday's win at home to Melbourne, the JackJumpers took on the Bullets on Saturday in what proved to be a seesaw battle with Roth's team finding themselves down 14 in the second quarter.

They responded with a 13-0 run in the third quarter and put up 34 points to have their own 11-point edge, but again Brisbane responded and found themselves in front late in the piece.

A Taran Armstrong pass to Josh Bannan then led to the JackJumpers forcing overtime and then they took control with 18 points to eight with Roth happy with how things are coming together.

"It's been a good weekend for us obviously and a lot of difficult games and moments, and travel involved, but it was a really resilient effort by us and I'm really proud of the guys," Roth said.

"We're still very much a work in progress of trying to get better in a lot of different areas but they're a much-improved team and will be a handful to deal with all year.

"You always count your blessings when you win on the road and get out of town as quick as you can with how tough the league is, but our guys just did a hell of a job."

Whether it's playing every game so far this season significantly shorthanded or falling into double figures during matches like the one against the Bullets, Roth's faith in his JackJumpers will never diminish.

They showed that again in spades to end up winning in Brisbane with Armstrong (29 points, four assists), Will Magnay (22 points, nine rebounds, six assists, four blocks), Josh Bannan (22 points, 11 rebounds, five assists) and Dakota Mathias (19 points, four boards, three assists) shining.

"We're not going to quit on anything and if we get punched around, which we will I'm sure throughout the course of the season, we'll keep attacking and doing what we do," Roth said.

"These guys stay patient and we had a great third quarter where we stayed down and defended really well, and I thought we actually had a good fourth quarter but just missed four or five great looks that could have ended the game at that point.

"But give them credit, they kept coming back at us and then it's just a five-minute game and the guys have a lot of resilience which they showed."

Roth has been thankful over the past week to have been able to get training sessions closer to normal having welcomed in Kody Stattmann and Biwali Bayles as injury replacement players, and with Bannan returning to full duties.

That preparation for the game hosting Melbourne led to that hard earned win and they backed up with the win in Brisbane and Roth expecting the JackJumpers to only continue to improve from here.

"You're constantly learning as you're going and we haven’t had a lot of five-on-five opportunities over the last few weeks just because we haven’t had the numbers to actually go do that," Roth said.

"We're behind on a lot of areas of rhythm of playing, and playing together, and we've had a huge amount of small-sided games that were driving guys nuts.

"But now we have a complete roster, or at least enough guys to go practice so that's going to be a huge growth for us. Game conditioning can improve for us also just in general and the rhythm and playing."

Speaking of Bannan, he had missed the opening two games of the season following a rib injury and then didn’t make the return he hoped against United where he fouled out late in the third quarter.

But he responded tremendously on his return to Brisbane on Thursday where he was instrumental in the victory and Roth knows how much better the JackJumpers are with him out there for everything he brings.

"He's champing at the bit to play and he missed four weeks or so and his first game back against United he was just wound up in a ball, and struggled the whole time and ended up fouling out of there," Roth said.

"The one thing about him that is undeniable is that he has a big motor and he's on the attack, and has a presence about himself with how he plays.

"He was a little shaky I think in the first half, but he hasn’t had a lot of rhythm to play five-on-five yet and he really settled us in the second half and gave us a lot of momentum from attacking the rim and opening up things for us."

While the JackJumpers won their two games in Round 3, the matches themselves couldn’t have been more contrasting.

Tasmania ended up beating Melbourne on Thursday, but that was a game that was more akin to a marathon and last man standing affair with the two teams combining to shoot 72 free throws across the evening.

It wasn’t necessarily a great spectacle to watch or to be part of, but it was the total opposite on Saturday night in Brisbane with both the Bullets and JackJumpers playing well, having their time with momentum and it was much more enjoyable for Roth to be part of too.

"The flow of the game obviously was not as choppy as the other night which was unfortunate and you have to just move on from that," Roth said.

"The flow of the game just in general was better across the board and it's more of what people obviously wanna see.

"The overall contents of the game was obviously extremely exciting with lead changes, and swinging back and forth, and two really competitive teams fighting early in the season to establish themselves.

"You win something on the road and you just drop your head and get out of town, and be thankful."