Newcastle Eagles astonishing 128-68 win in the ENBL game against BK Olomoucko on Friday night was not enough to help them qualify for the end of season play-offs in that competition, but it was a morale-boosting win to take to Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
Ray’Sean Taylor led the way for Newcastle with 38-points, and the Eagles also had five other players in double-figures on a night that showed the potential they have as a team. Coach Marc Steutel will be hoping that they can take that momentum and confidence into Sunday’s clash.
“You have to control what you can control regardless of the outcome. To get a winning margin of 60-points at home and give our fans a good night of basketball where the guys played with energy made it a really positive night on the whole.”
“Hopefully, the guys feel good about themselves going into Sunday. We’ve given ourselves a real boost for sure. Sport has a massive psychological impact and team sports do for sure. People talk about momentum and rhythm and I understand it.”
“You can’t quantify it so you can’t touch it or feel it, but you can go and play good basketball and that’s what we did on Friday night. There was a team in front of us and as the game went on, they looked pretty beat up but we’ve been on the other side of that at times.”
“I wasn’t being disrespectful at all, just trying to coach my side for the full forty minutes. Really positive that we got good contributions from everyone. Everyone’s come through the game healthy, guys feel good about themselves.”
“Job done let’s leave it there. Fans can feel good about it as long as they want but I’ve said to the team let’s switch our minds to Leicester.”
It is always a tough game against the Riders especially on their own court in the Mattioli Arena. Over the years fixtures between the two sides have become an intense rivalry.
With Riders sitting seventh in the standings on an 8-win 8 loss record and Eagles in eight place on six wins and 12 losses Sunday’s game is even more crucial. The sides both have a win each against each other this season and both want another to help progress their season forward.
Steutel is in no doubt of the game’s importance.
“Regardless of which team is going well I keep saying it. Every team in this league is tough. One of the amazing things about our League is that it’s not the top four that is guaranteed to be the top four every year.”
“London have been the team to beat in recent years but beyond that everyone can beat everyone. Going to Leicester is tough. It’s a team I respect. We’ve obviously got a good rivalry, good heritage, and history with them.”
“The last time we saw them was in December at home when we played out of our skins. We shot the lights out so I’m sure that games in their recent memory.”
“I challenged my guys before we played that game about how we felt when we’d been down to Leicester earlier in the season and lost in a game where we didn’t get going whatsoever.”
“Hopefully, the guys will remember that. We’ll get ready, build on Friday, and hopefully have another good performance and result.”
Tip-off at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester is at 15:00pm for yet another crucial SLB Championship encounter for Newcastle as they look to concentrate on improving their league position.
The game is free to watch live on DAZN.
