Bruton gives top praise for Wiley, Humphries

Adelaide 36ers head coach CJ Bruton said his side were not able to stop Brisbane’s run in the Bullets’ 86-71 NBL24 season opening win on Friday night.

The 36ers started the game on a 15-0 run and had the Nissan Arena fans stunned, but the Bullets caught fire in the second quarter and ran away with the game in the final stages.

“We took some quick shots (when leading in the first quarter), they ran in transition and put pressure on the rim,” Bruton said.

“From where we were at, and what we were able to do, we would have liked a better finish, but obviously we didn’t have that.”

Bruton had high praise for his frontcourt tandem of Jacob Wiley and Isaac Humphries, Wiley with 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while Humphries added a team-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds.

“Jacob is elite and Isaac has been playing tremendous for us all pre-season, being able to play 25 minutes a game, it’s amazing,” Bruton said.

“They anchor us, they are great athletes, and I will continue to put them in great spots where they can be successful on both ends of the floor.”

Import power forward Wiley said Adelaide has to concentrate on Melbourne United straight away, who will be the 36ers; next assignment in the club’s home opener on Sunday afternoon.  

“I’m really proud of how we started the game, we are still trying to find ourselves with bodies coming in and out, including myself dealing with the calf injury,” Wiley said.

“Moving forward we are taking steps, we are getting better, we are moving on from this and looking to get a win at home.”

After struggling with turnovers throughout the pre-season, Bruton was pleased the 36ers only coughed the ball up 12 times against the Bullets.

“We did a very good job with our turnover count from where we were in the pre-season, which will go a long way to winning ball games,” Bruton said.

“Offensive rebounds, Brisbane pounded us, that’s the area you can’t get kicked at. You can’t give up 23 offensive rebounds, you can’t get better at this, then start to give up that.

“Clearly that was an area we focused on, but we didn’t get that job done, but we ticked a few boxes.”

Bruton expects import Trey Kell to continue to improve after the swingman struggled to find the basket, shooting 4/17 in Brisbane.

“Trey Kell is an outstanding player, you saw that last year, just let him grow and stride a position where he is, we know he is one of the elite players in the competition,” Bruton said.

“He will continue to create scores for everyone on the floor, having him being aggressive and he needs to get some wind under him after not playing all pre-season at the Blitz.”

Adelaide will host Melbourne United on Brett Maher Court at the Entertainment Centre from 1.30pm ACST on Sunday afternoon.