“It’s a big game for both sides”: Wells expecting tough trip to Tassie

The Adelaide 36ers are expecting a fight when they get to Tasmania according to head coach Mike Wells.

The Sixers will take on the JackJumpers at Hobart’s MyState Bank Arena on Thursday night, flying out of Adelaide on Wednesday afternoon.

The JackJumpers have lost their last four games but match-up well when they host the Sixers, having won four of the five meetings between the sides in Hobart.

Given their recent run of losses, Wells is expecting the Tasmanians to be a tough assignment, but his focus is on getting his own side back on the winner’s list.

“You just focus on the Sixers,” he said at Adelaide Airport before departing.

“We're focussed on the things that we can control or attempt to control - our ability to be ready, being familiar with their personnel and the things they do well.

“We know how hard it is to win on the road in this game. In this game, in this league, no matter what, you're always going to have a fight down there, right? That's just what happens.

“If they have a little more (fight), they have a little more, I can't really control that. I think it's a big game for both teams.”

The Sixers are coming off their third loss of the season, and Wells said the group wanted to learn from where it had gone wrong in Sunday night’s narrow loss to Perth.

“We’ve got a great group, (they) practice hard, watch film, get better,” Wells said.

“Our culture, our leadership group, they've been great from the moment we started.

“We're seven (wins) and three (losses). We've probably been beat in one of those games and beat ourselves in two other games Those are disappointing things.

"But those are also situations for a new group for us to keep learning, you know, I think every day, every time we can practice, get together, you know, whether that's film or walkthroughs, or practice, a full practice, you know, it's opportunities to connect a group and move forward.”

The Sixers have seven wins from their first 10 games – the club’s best start to a season since 2013-14 when it was 8-2 at the same point in the campaign.

Given the promising start and increased expectations in Adelaide since the arrival of Bryce Cotton, Wells said the promising thing was that his side was not yet the finished product.

He said narrow losses were part of the growth process to ensure the group was dialled in come the business end of the season.

“This game will be our 11th game of the year, so we'll be a third of the way through. We're not there yet,” he explained.

“I think (expectation) is a good thing. There hasn't been a lot of expectations around here, I don't think, for a long time, so, you know, it's part of what we wanted to do - change the culture and the team and rebuild this thing.

“We want to be in these situations early in the year. You know, as much as it hurts to lose those games at the end or be in close games, this is all part of it, so when we get in games, that really really matter, we've been in this position before.

“Hopefully we correct, and we move on, and we can win those type of situations.”

Thursday night’s game gets underway at 7:00pm ACDT / 7:30pm AEDT and will be shown live on ESPN on Kayo or Disney+.