The Newcastle Eagles go into Friday night’s Super League Basketball Championship home game against the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks at The Vertu Arena looking to halt a worrying 7-game losing streak and get their season back on track.

Last time out The Eagles went to Thessaloniki Greece to play Iraklis BC in the European North Basketball League and came away with a disappointing 85 – 71 defeat. However, Head Coach Marc Steutel thought his side had done well without getting the win.

“I thought the team competed well against Iraklis who play in the Greek league which alongside Germany’s is probably the strongest league in the competition. I thought the team did really well to impose our DNA in the game for long periods.”

“Unfortunate that we didn’t get the outcome we wanted. Just the last five or six minutes that they were able to get a few possessions that gave them control of the game and ultimately that was the difference.”

“It was a performance in the right direction. I thought the guys defended really well for the most part and we took steps forward.”

However, it’s clear Steutel and is players need to start taking those steps in a positive way to try and get back to winning games. The Coach is confident that with the hard work being put in they can do that.

“I think it’s important that ourselves and everyone associated with The Club are really present and understands that this is a marathon and not a sprint.”

“We’ve got 25 league games left, at least 2 Trophy games and a cup game with albeit a difficult draw. We’ve got 6 European games left and we’re still targeting post season basketball so we have a lot of basketball left.”

“So, it’s about being present day to day, stacking good days like we’ve done these last few days since we last played. Having self-belief and confidence. I think in this day and age people take confidence and self-belief from external validation and sources.”

“We’re in a position where we have to take confidence and self-belief from our group and doing the right things at the minute. I full belief and confidence that we’ll start getting the outcomes that we want and we’ll go from there.”

Standing in the way for The Eagles first up is a Sheffield side who are third in the standings and who have already beaten Newcastle 78 – 73 in the SLB on their own court earlier in the season.

“Sheffield are a really talented team with a lot of scorers. We’ve seen them once already. We need to make sure that we do a good job of limiting their personnel. But we have to play offence free and play with our DNA and confidence and self-belief.”

“We have to try and make sure the tempo suits us offensively and if we do that I think we’ll give ourselves a good chance of winning. It’s exciting to be going out and competing in front again of our great fans.”

Tip-off on a Friday night as always in The Vertu Arena is at 7:30pm for yet another crucial game in the 2025/26 season.