‘Frustrating’ was the keyword Newcastle Eagles Head Coach Marc Steutel used to sum up his feelings after his side slipped to a disappointing 79-87 home loss to Caledonia Gladiators on Sunday evening in the Vertu Arena.

Steutel’s side boosted by the return of Gus Okafor to the roster had gone into the game buoyed by a great performance and 98-85 winning result against Leicester Riders pre-Christmas.

However, the optimism that game had engendered was all but extinguished as the Eagles lost to the SLB Championship’s bottom side, a side that they had already beaten twice this season up in Scotland.

“It was a difficult night. Experience tells me that sometimes you have a game like that over the course of a season. Every team experiences some frustration at times. It rears its head in different forms and I was frustrated with my team tonight,” was how Steutel opened his post-game thoughts.

He continued in the same vein.

“They tried to compete in spells but couldn’t find rhythm. I tried to help them but that impacted our toughness and that was what frustrated me when we didn’t see the ball go through from taking a lot of the looks that we take usually.”

“It then impacted our defence. That’s not something that’s not generally been our identity particularly over this last patch. Experience tells me that teams sometimes go through a game like that. One game like that in isolation can be used to learn and grow.”

It was perhaps a game that few saw coming after Eagles had won five of their last six games domestically. Playing the type of game Steutel wants to see and seemingly progressing the right way as he explained his philosophy.

“We’ve been playing good basketball of late and we didn’t play good basketball today. We’re not going to go from now to the end of May without dropping another game. But you want to take care of your home games. That’s really important and you want to find that consistency at home.”

“Regardless of where Caledonia are with their record they are a talented team. I felt our messaging with the guys was correct, information and ideas were correct but ten minutes in I had the sense that we had to try and fix it.”

“I was explicit on my communication with the team but I don’t think that message was received and actioned. I’ll reflect on how the team can understand my level of communication and the urgency within certain areas.”

“I thought that we’d had enough learning this year already. But maybe I have to go away and reflect again.”

Reflections and answers that need to come quickly for Steutel and his players as they have to travel down south to face Surrey 89ers on Tuesday night in another tough challenge as the games come thick and fast for Newcastle.

“The team have to find a way to respond. Surrey is a difficult place to go and play. They’ll be buoyed by their victory at Bristol on Sunday. It’s always a difficult venue to play in and a tough one for Newcastle historically.”

“We haven’t been there this season but we saw them at home earlier and got a good win over them. We’ll see what we can do. It’s a team I respect but we have to make sure we have a response to tonight’s game and make sure we bounce back.”

There’s no doubt that Steutel has the focus drive and determination to push his team forward. What he needs now is for his players to match his intentions and respond to his calls.

The Eagles tip-off tomorrow night at 7:30pm in Surrey for their final minutes of play for 2025 with the game available to watch live for free on DAZN.