Rd 5 Preview | JackJumpers v 36ers

The Tasmania JackJumpers are on top of the NBL standings for the first time but there's no time to celebrate with three games in the next six days starting Friday night at MyState Bank Arena against the Adelaide 36ers.

The JackJumpers haven't played since beating the Illawarra Hawks 122-112 last Friday night in Wollongong, but now suddenly the schedule really picks up.

That begins on Friday night with Tasmania hosting Adelaide at MyState Bank Arena with the game to tip-off at 7:30pm fresh off a remarkable and historic night on Thursday in the same building when the Jewels began their life in the WNBL beating Geelong Venom.

Coming into the game and the JackJumpers remain in first place with a 4-1 record to start the season over the opening four rounds and having now won three in-a-row.

That included that win over the Hawks where the 122 that the JackJumpers scored was a franchise record beating the previous high mark of 114.

They are taking on a 36ers team who currently hold a 3-4 record but are fresh off an impressive win last Sunday in a Championship Series rematch in Sydney against the Kings despite the continued absence of Isaac Humphries and Flynn Cameron.

The JackJumpers will also continue to be without Majok Deng, Ben Ayre and Bryce Hamilton while with the retirement of Anthony Drmic this week, Kody Stattmann has been locked in as his permanent replacement.

The 36ers will also be without coach Trevor Gleeson for Friday night's game due to family commitments which will delay his first game in the NBL against the JackJumpers and up against his former assistant in Perth, Scott Roth.

The Sixers will instead be led by senior assistant coach Marko Marinovic against the JackJumpers, with him in charge of his first NBL game in his third season in Adelaide.

JackJumpers assistant Mark Radford is happy with the start to the season to be 4-1, but he knows that can change quickly with this hectic stretch starting Friday against Adelaide before hosting New Zealand on Sunday and Brisbane on Wednesday.

"It's a little bit different for Jackies isn’t it from that standpoint? But I feel like we're in a good position start-wise considering some of the issues that we've had health-wise," Radford said.

"We've got a couple of road wins, the spirits are really high and now we have three games in six days so if you take your eye off the ball, that can quickly change, but right now we're in good form.

"There's no easy game in the NBL and I'm not sure it matters if it's a home game or not, or if players are in or out, any team can win on any night in this league so you just have to bring your best.

"You can be one or two per cent off and your game's done so we have a lot of concentration put into getting through these next three games."

Rookie JackJumpers big man Ben Gold is already thriving as part of the front court alongside Magnay and Bannan with Deng still to return, and he knows that to win on Friday night they can't let six-time MVP Bryce Cotton and imposing centre Nick Rakocevic have a big impact.

"Especially going into this next game, we know how Bryce Cotton and Rakocevic play, and those are the two main guys that we need to try and limit and take care of. That's been the big focus this week," Gold said.

"I think we're strong in every position and the bigs spot is somewhere we can be aggressive and attack them with to try and go at Rakocevic and try to get him out of the game.

"We're deep at the big position and we've talked about how it can be anyone's game individually on our team any night. So just being able to go at that and try to attack them is what we'll be trying to do."

Friday night's game will be the first time the two teams have met this season and going back to NBL26 with both teams making the finals, they played one another three times with Adelaide winning the first two and Tasmania the last.

In that most recent clash, the JackJumpers prevailed 80-72 in Adelaide and on that occasion, Bryce Hamilton had 16 points, Nick Marshall 13, David Johnson 12, Tyger Campbell 11, Ben Ayre 10, Will Magnay eight and Josh Bannan eight to go with nine rebounds and three assists.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2026/27 | ROUND 5

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS v Adelaide 36ers

MyState Bank Arena, Friday October 16, 7:30pm

Watch live on ESPN via Disney+, Foxtel, Kayo or Fetch