McCarron: 'No excuses' for opening loss

Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch McCarron said there are ‘no excuses’ after the opening night loss to Tasmania JackJumpers and expects a different mindset for Saturday’s clash against Illawarra Hawks.

McCarron praised the NBL22 grand finalists post game and said his side no knows the standard to compete in NBL23.

“I got to give credit to them, they played really, really well,” McCarron said.

“Their level was a lot higher than ours, their energy was better, they executed their game plan and their scout better than what we did.

“We put ourselves in a big hole and it’s tough to comeback in the league.”

Tasmania connected on seven three-pointers in a 32-10 opening quarter avalanche which stunned the Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd, but McCarron said jetlag or fatigue from the NBLxNBA tour to the US earlier this month had no impact in the result.

“It is what it is, we are not going to sit here and make excuses about it,” McCarron said.

“We were here for what was essentially our round one game and we weren’t at the level, so it’s not good enough.”

The 36ers will be back on Brett Maher Court on Saturday, when Adelaide host Illawarra Hawks from 5pm.