Gutsy JackJumpers effort no surprise for Bannan

Josh Bannan joined the Tasmania JackJumpers for two reasons – to be part of the grit and grind culture and to Defend the Island and because Scott Roth felt he fit all the traits he's looking – and all that was on show in Melbourne on Sunday.

Coming out of the University of Montana, Bannan made a strong start to his NBL career in two seasons at the Brisbane Bullets, but from what he'd seen coaching against him, Roth saw someone that would perfectly fit the JackJumpers culture.

Then in turn, Bannan saw somewhere that would be ideally suited to him too and now all of that is coming to fruition 42 games into his time with the JackJumpers with him playing with great heart and spirit which is exactly the type of culture the club has been built on.

Another added bonus of playing with the JackJumpers and it only goes to illustrate how much they have captured the imagination of the Tasmanian public is the support they get wherever they play around the country.

That's no surprise to Bannan because he noticed it in Brisbane when playing for the Bullets against the JackJumpers, and it again gave the whole team an added boost in Melbourne on Sunday in the eventual win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

"Yeah, it's awesome and it's not something I fully knew about coming here even though in Brisbane I noticed it playing at home, and you see this contingent of Jackies fans," Bannan said.

"Then you come down and play for the Jack Jumpers. It's incredible. The fans travel, people in different cities have so much love for Tasmania and it's very unique in this league and around the world.

"The Tasmanian people stay Tasmanian and it's a special team to be a part of, and I'm very grateful. They give us lots of energy everywhere we play."

There were so many things working against the JackJumpers heading into Sunday's game with the Phoenix, but thanks to the culture they have built, nobody was interested in using excuses.

The JackJumpers had just played a tough battle in Launceston with the Sydney Kings on Friday night. They went into that game without Majok Deng, Ben Ayre and Bryce Hamilton, and had David Johnson and Ben Gold added to the injury list by the end of it.

Then there was the quick turnaround to playing in Melbourne less than 48 hours later where they were taking on a South East Melbourne team who hadn’t played since a big win also at John Cain Arena against the Adelaide 36ers the previous Saturday night.

Despite all that, nothing summed up the culture of the JackJumpers that with just a seven-man rotation, they outplayed the Phoenix most of the way for the eventual 98-89 win to improve to a 7-3 record in second position by the end of Round 7.

"I'd argue with you, we had plenty of reasons to win this game and we've got a lot of good players still playing, Bannan said.

"Well, I guess if you were able to see the way we practice, the way the team rallies around one another, all the things that happen outside of basketball like the time spent together and the time spent on the practice floor and with video, it wouldn't surprise you."

Plenty might have been working against the JackJumpers, but the group pulled together as a unit led by Bannan with Will Magnay up front as they combined for 29 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and four blocks on 10/18 shooting while playing 69 of a possible 80 minutes.

Fellow starters Taran Armstrong, Nick Marshall and Dakota Mathias were also outstanding while off the bench, Nick Stoddart delivered six points and two rebounds to be +20 in 12 minutes while Kody Stattmann had six points and was +14 in 17 minutes.

"That was just gutsy, really when it comes down to it. We had a lot of guys playing big minutes off playing 48 hours ago and it was just gutsy," Bannan said.

"That's what it all comes down to and you talk about what this club's about is for these guys to show up who played tonight.

"There's guys who haven't played in a bit and honestly, most pleasing is that you look at Nick Stoddart who plays 12 minutes tonight and he's Stoddy +20. Stattmann is +14, that's enormous for those guys to come in and do that. It's just massive for the team."

It was also an impressive defensive performance from the JackJumpers to hold a potent South East Melbourne team to just 89 points on shooting 47 per cent from the field and 7/29 from beyond the arc.

That included the potentially lethal Angus Glover, Nathan Sobey and Tanner Krebs going 3/18 from the outside with Bannan more than proud of what they did at the defensive end.

"He (Roth) talks about it and defending the three-point line is always going to be massive for every team in the league, but particularly these guys," Bannan said.

"So for them going on runs, it's going to be offensive rebounds, defensive transition and the three-point line," Bannan said.

"So you kind of get back to how can we do a good job in those areas and then share the ball offensively, and have some longer possessions. That worked out well for us."