Grit and grind of JackJumpers is a real thing

You build a culture so that it stands up when things get tough, and that continues to be the calling card of the Tasmania JackJumpers, and that's why coach Scott Roth was so proud of all seven players he had out there on Sunday.

The JackJumpers continue to be a marvel where the harder things do seem to get, and the more the odds are stacked against them, the more they pull together and they continue to defy the odds.

And things were sure stacked against them when they took on the South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Sunday.

The JackJumpers had just played a tough battle in Launceston with the Sydney Kings on Friday night where they led all night before conceding a late 12-2 run to lose.

Not only that, but they lost Ben Gold and David Johnson for Sunday's game less than 48 hours later as they joined Majok Deng, Bryce Hamilton and Ben Ayre sidelined.

The Phoenix were also coming off two big wins and were fresh, but right from the start the JackJumpers outhustled their opponents, built a 22-point lead and held on to win 98-89 with only seven players used and each playing at least 12 minutes.

Every team preaches the next man up mentality, but with the JackJumpers it's real.

Kody Stattmann has now earned a full roster spot with the retirement of Anthony Drmic and was crucial in 17 minutes for six points and was +14 in his time.

Nick Stoddart had to back up Taran Armstrong to play out of position as a point guard at times too, but stood up in 12 minutes for six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal to also be +20 while out there.

The starters, Will Magnay, Josh Bannan, Nick Marshall, Dakota Mathias and Armstrong, were then all brilliant, but it comes back to live the grit and grind motto – which is real, not just some catch phrase.

"This is obviously a difficult team to play against with the pace that they play and we had a grinder with Sydney right down the wire, and then we lose two players and now we're down five total," Roth said.

"Just the resilience of these guys to show up again and travel and recover yesterday, just the grit and grind of what the JackJumpers are and how we go about our business.

"Obviously I'm proud of these guys and the fight is real with them, and the competitiveness showed. We knew they'd make a run at us and we just held our ground a bit there, and bent a little bit but didn't break."

What Roth continues to marvel at with his players is that they don't want to make excuses, they just get on with the job no matter what's thrown at them.

The front court was deliberately strengthened this season adding Ben Gold to support Magnay, Bannan and Deng. But only Magnay and Bannan were available on Sunday, and the pair delivered 29 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four blocks in a combined 69 minutes.

Marshall then took on the role defending Nathan Sobey for a lot of the game and played 36 minutes for 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals while Dakota Mathias continues to be a revelation with 22 points on 3/5 outside shooting along with seven rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes.

Armstrong is the first Tasmanian fully rostered player and had 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, but hit the biggest shot of the game with 35 seconds left to seal the game. And it was only fitting it was a mid-range jumper which he has been working hard on all off-season.

"The thing that we do well is this next man mentality, that's how we practice and that's how we go about our daily work when we get back to practicing," Roth said.

"The connection with all of our players and it's everyone across the board, it's about doing their jobs, which we pride ourselves on and playing a certain role for us.

"That's not for everybody and we are very much about having no egos on our team, that's why I select the guys that I select. The guys that we do have are super, super competitive and have such a high work rate.

"That usually leads to a recipe of having situations where you go on the road and your defence travels with you, and you have a chance to win. We're down guys, which a lot of teams are, and it's about if we can manufacture some wins here along the way as these guys recover."

Even beyond the result of the game, to have so many JackJumpers fans inside John Cain Arena supporting the team had Roth emotional after the game because he knows the legitimate impact the club has made to capture the imagination of all Tasmanians.

"From where we started to where we are and the amount of love that the Tasmanian people have given this team is off the charts," Roth said.

"I have so many people come up to me around just in the airport when we landed the other day that were coming to the game, coming from some other spot and got us in the airport and took photos with us.

"It's just something that has been created that the players and the organisation have been fantastic about, and our ticket is extremely hard to get in Tasmania. It is a hot, hot ticket and you just can't get them.

"It hasn't deterred these people from getting on the Spirit or coming over on a plane and watching us go play somewhere. This year we started in Bendigo and we had people coming in just to go there because they couldn't get to a game in Tasmania.

"We've got people leaving the island to go somewhere else to go see us play because they can't get to a game at MyState Bank. That's very emotional for me to see where it started with no green jerseys, no nothing, and now it's just absolutely everywhere.

"It's just a credit to the organisation, the players and the staff of the work they do to represent the state."