Preview: Tasmania vs Adelaide - Round 9, NBL24

Friday, December 1, 2023

Can Adelaide put their three-point shooting woes behind them and take a win against Tasmania, or will a refreshed JackJumpers side prove too strong?

Saturday, December 2 at 8pm AEDT | MyState Bank Arena

Watch: Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports – Sky Sports in NZ | International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

Last time these teams met was as recently as Round 7, where 17 points from Jordon Crawford and eight assists from Milton Doyle led the JackJumpers to a ten-point win in Adelaide.

Tasmania is yet to take to the floor since the start of the round, but Adelaide suffered a 13-point loss to New Zealand on Thursday night.

CJ Bruton lamented his side’s inability to gain momentum in the season after the defeat, in which Adelaide hit just four of 25 attempted threes on the night and led for absolutely none of the game.

Tasmania
90-87 win over Cairns
92-97 loss to New Zealand
82-72 win over Adelaide

Adelaide
83-96 loss to New Zealand
96-93 win over South East Melbourne
72-82 loss to Tasmania

Jack McVeigh
To a lot of neutral viewers, Jack McVeigh is the Tasmania JackJumpers. He leads the club in all-time pointers, threes made and rebounds, and just continues to take his game to another level under Scott Roth.

When McVeigh left Adelaide at the end of NBL21, few would have predicted the type of player he would blossom into at the NBL’s newest club, and every season under Roth has seen him improve in points per game and field goal percentage.

The swagger McVeigh has is different to most of the NBL’s top players. He manages to have the self-belief without the ego, and he’s not only become one of the most impactful players in the NBL, but one of the most universally appreciated.

While Milton Doyle and Jordon Crawford tend to be the primary scoring options for Tasmania, having a third option at the quality of McVeigh is a rare benefit, and he’s primed to once again prove to his former side why they should have fought just that bit harder to hold onto him.

“Right now, I think he and Mitch Creek might actually be competing for a position in the All-NBL First Team … he works, he believes in himself, and he’s got his mindset right. He’s playing in the right system where he fits perfectly and for that reason he is one of the top five players in the competition.”- Derek Rucker on Jack McVeigh on Moments That Mattered.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jack McVeigh is having a stellar season ?<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a> star is averaging multiple career highs in NBL24 ??<br><br>?? 16.3 points<br>?? 4.7 rebounds<br>?? 1.8 assists<br>?? 50% FG<br><br>?? <a href="https://t.co/j9LBA0vEYk">pic.twitter.com/j9LBA0vEYk</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1729311646374592694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Alex Starling
Alex Starling’s role within the 36ers’ roster is s till yet to be consistently defined outside of one key metric; if the 36ers need energy, he brings it.

Starling played 11 minutes in Thursday’s loss to New Zealand and was one of just three 36ers with a positive plus/minus in the game. While his five points and five rebounds might not necessarily jump off the page, he’s establishing himself as a break glass if needed option in the post positions for CJ Bruton.

He featured heavily in the first few games of the season before finding himself rooted to the bench for a few weeks during Adelaide’s winning run – but he’s forced himself back into CJ Bruton’s plans and impressing when give the opportunity.

“I think he’s been great. He’s obviously extremely athletic, he plays really hard and he’s physical. He’s brought a great energy off the bench for us and he’s got to be commended for that.” - Mitch McCarron on Alex Starling following the loss to New Zealand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Starling with the HUGE block ?<br><br>? ESPN via Kayo Sports<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreSixers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreSixers</a> <a href="https://t.co/Sx73QPXRwB">pic.twitter.com/Sx73QPXRwB</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1730138709167915269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Milton Doyle vs Trey Kell III
After he started the season on fire, Milton Doyle looks to have gone through something of a down patch in recent weeks. Right before the mid-season break, however, he was back to his best with 17 points against New Zealand, before a tougher night against the Taipans.

Both Doyle and Trey Kell III will be looking to put their recent form behind them in order to help guide their teams to victory. While Doyle has been happy to allow the likes of Jordon Crawford and Jack McVeigh to be the go-to guys for the JackJumpers in recent games, Kell hasn’t even been on the court.

The former Phoenix wing made his return from injury for the 36ers last night and, unfortunately, the less said about his performance, the better. He hit just three of his 11 shot attempts on the night and only contributed a solitary assist in the loss.

To call Doyle’s recent run of form poor would be unfairly harsh. He’s had breakout games of the standard we’ve come to expect of him, but teams are finding ways to quieten him down on occasion, while we all know Kell does have the ability to be a game-winner for Adelaide.

If both import sharpshooters can get off the chain and onto the scoreboard, this could be an incredible game of NBL hoops.