Round 15 Game Preview JackJumpers v Illawarra Hawks

GAME PREVIEW –

Round 15 – Tasmania JackJumpers v Illawarra Hawks  

Friday 12 January, 7.30pm tip-off

MyState Bank Arena

Watch LIVE on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel

State of Play

The JackJumpers will be suiting up for their third encounter within just 7 days, and will be looking to repent a disappointing loss in Brisbane.

Tasmania’s loss on Wednesday sees them hold a 11-10 record, sitting third on the ladder.

Tom Vodanovich will look to further cement his role after just 5 minutes in his opening stanza with his new team.

He’ll line up for his first game on home floor and will be grateful to have the passionate ant army behind him rather than against him.

The Hawks look a very very different side from last time the two teams met and have been thriving under interim coach Justin Tatum.

Confidence is sky high in Wollongong with the Hawks currently on a three game winning streak with the last time they recorded an L, when they met the Jackies just before Christmas.

Justin Tatum believes the Hawks should not only be targeting a place in the NBL24 finals, rather, the competitiveness of the group means they should be looking at a title run.

Form Guides

Tasmania
77-80 loss to Brisbane
103-86 win over Cairns
93-98 loss to New Zealand

Illawarra
116-78 win over South East Melbourne
91-84 win over Adelaide
94-90 win over Sydney

Last time they met
HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 89 (Froling 22, Clark 18, Harvey 12)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 100 (Crawford 20, Steindl 15, Magnay 13)

The JackJumpers came away with an eleven point win in a somewhat dominant display at Win Entertainment Centre.

Forward Will Magnay had a huge early impact as Tasmania JackJumpers blew apart Illawarra, 100-89.

They restricted the hosts to just 10 points in the first quarter on Saturday at WIN Entertainment Centre, Magnay and Crawford then providing the offensive flourish as the lead hit 25 late in the second quarter.

The Hawks had no answer for the JackJumpers with the offensive rebounding especially emphatic from Tasmania who pulled down 18 o-boards for 20 second chance points.Crawford (20 points) relished any open space, torching the Hawks with 3-of-7 triples while Magnay was a problem around the rim.

SRT Logistics Coaches’ take

Assistant Coach Mark Radford “they’re playing with confidence after a solid run under a new coach and a 38 point win is big for confidence. They[‘re certainly reenergised under Tatum and it seem their systems are coming together. Their list at their best is one of the best in the league – Froling, Harvey, Robinson, Clark – there’s threats across the floor so we’ll work through that and be aggressive on the boards”.

Ins & outs 

Tasmania JackJumpers: Majok Deng will miss with an ankle injury

Illawarra Hawks: Wani Swaka Lo Buluk is out with illness

Opponents on the Radar

Froling has scored fewer than 16 points just twice in eight appearances under new coach Tatum, and although his rebounding and assist numbers have dipped slightly when compared to last season, there’s been a marked improvement in almost every other metric.