After a disappointing 83-85 overtime loss at home in the Vertu Arena on Friday night against Bristol Flyers the Newcastle Eagles are back in action less than 48 hours later. They travel to the North West to take on Manchester Basketball on Sunday afternoon.
The loss against Bristol was Newcastle’s third in a row in the SLB Championship and Head Coach Marc Steutel knows it’s going to be a tough challenge for his side to try and turn that run around as he previewed the game.
“Manchester are a talented basketball team. They have some clear strengths and athleticism on the wings and three skilful guards who are all able to impact the game. So we know we’ve got our hands full.”
Steutel cut a very frustrated figure on Friday night after the dramatic overtime loss to Bristol. His Eagles side came back superbly after a disappointing first half to turn the game around and force overtime.
Then in those last five extra minutes the game that could have gone either way but ultimately the ball fell the wrong side for his side and they endured a tough loss. He’s looking for a reaction to that on Sunday.
“I need a response from my team and we need to have a level of urgency about us in each moment of the game. Not just waiting for different parts of the game before we start asserting ourselves. That’s probably the most important thing for us.”
There’s no doubting that Steutel was hurting after Friday’s game and clearly felt some of the contributing factors were outside of his and his team’s control. But he also knows that they all have to reset for Manchester.
“Frustrated on Friday that in a basketball game where we take 35 two-point field goal attempts and we end up at the free-throw line for six attempts. Three separate trips which is mind-boggling to me.”
“But again we know we have to control what we can. Our defensive discipline in overtime wasn’t at the level we needed so we need to try and make sure we improve that on Sunday against a difficult Manchester team.”
“We’re in a difficult patch at the moment and have to find a way to push through it.”
Strangely thanks to the quirk of the fixture scheduling this will be the first time the two sides have met in competitive action since the season started back in September of last year.
Both sides are in indifferent form in the Championship at the moment. Manchester having lost three of their last four games have an 8 wins 7 losses record and sit 5th in the standings.
Newcastle meanwhile after a good December where Steutel took SLB Coach of the Month honours have now slipped to three consecutive league defeats and four-in-a-row in all competitions.
Their Championship record stands at 6 wins and 11 loses and they are eighth in the table. Clearly something Steutel and his players want to remedy as quickly as possible and try to get back to winning ways.
The game at the National Basketball Performance Centre Manchester tips-off at 15:00pm.
