Newcastle Eagles went out of the SLB Cup on Friday night in the Vertu Arena. A fourth defeat in four games against London Lions 68-94 this season meant it was British basketball’s current premier top-flight side that went through to the semi-final stage.
Now Newcastle who have lost seven consecutive games across four different competitions will turn their attention to the Trophy Final against the same opposition in Birmingham next Sunday. They certainly know how tough a task that’s going to be.
But Head Coach Marc Steutel remains defiant and optimistic about his side’s recent form and their chances next week as he spoke after the latest loss.
“I felt we put a lot of good possessions together. I don’t care what anyone thinks, it’s my opinion. The first half they had too many points off our turnovers. We had nine turnovers and gave them 16 points which is pretty much their DNA.”
“We had to work a bit harder for our points. It’s not like us not to be able to get out on the break. We need a little bit more belief in what we do against this team. The start of the third quarter they had four ‘3’s’ in a row.”
“You’ve got to pick your poison with this team with how they play. We’ll learn from that for sure. The third quarter we were plus three on the box score and I thought we were solid and then the fourth was really difficult for us to find some rhythm with how the game was officiated and I’ll say that on record.”
“This is (London) probably the most physical team in the league. They’re built that way. I think the refereeing is abysmal. Ray’Sean Taylor, I’m trying to protect him. A guy diving at his ankles, no call, come down, vertical foul. I just don’t understand it.
Clearly over the last few games Steutel has felt that his side hasn’t had the rub of the green when it’s come to in-game control and believes it’s affecting his side’s ability to get results. But he knows they have to battle on.
“We’ll continue to reflect. I know it’s a big loss but I honestly feel more positive than I did when we saw them a couple of weeks ago. We had a lot of good looks but the ball didn’t go in. They tried to disrupt their defence with doubling up the post, switching pick and rolls.”
“They threw a couple of hard shows at us and they hurt us with a few actions in the last game that we did a much better job of this time and we forced them away from those actions.”
“They are a very good basketball team with a lot of talent and a lot of depth. Any team that competes with them let along beats them has to be at 99.9% and has to stop them getting anywhere near that. That’s the reality.”
So, how does Steutel try to combat that with his players for that Trophy Final?
“We’ve got nine days of preparation. We’ll be ready. The odds are in their favour, we’re the underdogs and they are the giants but we’ll see them again. Obviously frustrated again but not the same feeling that I’ve had.”
“I thought the performance was better on the whole. They had a spell when the ball went in and we had a spell when it didn’t. That about sums it up.”
Eagles do have an European game at the Vertu Arena on Tuesday night against KK Dubrava of Croatia. But with qualification to the next stage for that competition all but extinguished it is that Trophy Final that is uppermost in Newcastle’s mind.
Tickets for both the midweek ENBL home game and next Sunday’s Final are available from the box office.
