Who: Illawarra Hawks v Townsville Crocodiles When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 28 November Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong Watch: Fox Sports (Live and in HD); NBL Live App Last time they met: Illawarra 96 (Ogilvy 28, Lisch 25, Penney 24) d Townsville 88 (Conklin 19, Steindl 19), Round 4, Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre THE MATCH-UP Rob Beveridge v Shawn Dennis – With this duo as coach and assistant coach, the Wildcats were firstly the league’s fastest and most furious team, and then later expert at controlling the tempo and suffocating opponents. Illawarra under Beveridge mirror the former, the Crocs under Dennis the latter. THE STATS In their four years together in Perth, Beveridge and Dennis produced an 84-46 win-loss record at 65 per cent, making three grand finals and winning the 2010 championship. In his past four games, AJ Ogilvy has averaged 24.5 points at 56 per cent, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks, while shooting 30-of-34 from the foul line. THE STORY There’s a game behind the game when Illawarra and Townsville meet in 2015/16, with long-time associates Rob Beveridge and Shawn Dennis squaring off. “He’s one of my best mates, he knows my system, we’ve been around a long time,” Beveridge said after the Hawks pipped Townsville in Round 4. “He’s a fighter and that’s one of the characteristics of their team.” The Crocs needed to fight hard in that game after giving up a 16-1 start after little more than three minutes, fighting back to within six before letting it blow out to 16, then reducing the margin to two in the final term before falling short. Those slow starts are a bad habit Townsville has thankfully got themselves out of, their recent run of tough performances built around controlled offence and scrambling team defence. But last time against Illawarra their D was pulled to all corners of the court, AJ Ogilvy the chief beneficiary with 28 points at 79 per cent, along with 13 boards and two swats.

AJ with the one hand jam #HardBall @TsvCrocs @illawarrahawks https://t.co/2WbgrnAAkN

— NBL (@NBL) October 28, 2015

“A lot of it was because the defence was so spread. With our shooters, the ability guys like Oscar (Forman), Kirk (Penney) and Kevin (Lisch) have, I was getting open looks under the basket,” Ogilvy said. Townsville have improved their ball-screen defence considerably since that game, with Mitch Young and Nick Kay standouts, and they’ll need to be at the top of their game with Luke Schenscher still sidelined. “When you play against a quality centre you need your centre, and not having Luke’s size at times was definitely a factor,” Dennis said of the team’s previous meeting. “But we were able to negate that at times when we did the right things and that’s what it comes down to.” THE WRAP  The Hawks had lost three of their past four outings coming into this round, making an average of 7.5 three-pointers at 32 per cent, compared to 12.3 triples at 42 per cent over the rest of the season, so expect Townsville to run them off the arc at every opportunity. Going inside to Ogilvy will be a priority for Illawarra, as will extending the defence to try and rush the composed Crocs and stop this becoming a low-possession game, something that will also be determined by whether Beveridge’s men can hold their own on the boards. Townsville will test the Hawks’ ability to contain penetration, which has been a weak point, but they are likely to need Brian Conklin to find some old form if they are to make Ogilvy work at the defensive end, and some pinpoint execution like this from Mitch Norton and Clint Steindl.

Norton provides for Steindl to finish in style #hardBall @TsvCrocs @MelbUnitedHQ https://t.co/yCtnMGYMac — NBL (@NBL) November 26, 2015