Sixers to get first taste of Ignite Cup

The Adelaide 36ers will take on Illawarra in the first of the club’s Ignite Cup games on Wednesday night.

The Ignite Cup is the Hungry Jack’s NBL’s new in-season tournament, adding 20 extra games to the schedule on Wednesday nights.

While it is a standalone tournament in terms of having its own standings and prize pool, the games also count towards the regular season standings.

Sixers reserved seat members will have access to the games as they would for all other NBL games and general reserved members will be able to book a seat as part of their membership.

The Ignite Cup features a unique scoring system and culminates in a standalone Final with a $400,000 prize pool. 60 per cent of that money is allocated directly to the players, with the remaining 40 per cent to the Club.

Each of the 10 NBL teams will play two home games and two away games during the tournament. Games are scheduled every Wednesday night, with results contributing to both the Ignite Cup standings and the regular season ladder.

The top two teams based on Ignite Cup points will advance to the Final on the Gold Coast, which is separate from the regular season and offers a unique opportunity for teams to compete for the Ignite Cup title and prize money.

The 36ers and South East Melbourne are the only sides not to play an Ignite Cup game yet, so they take up two of the bottom three places on the Ignite Cup ladder.

The awarding of points and the way the ladder stacks up can be a little confusing so here is a breakdown of how it works.

How are points awarded:

·       Three (3) points is awarded to the Club that wins the game;

·       One (1) point is awarded to the Club who scores the most points in each quarter;

·       Half (0.5) a point is award to both Clubs if both Clubs score the same number of points in a quarter; and

·       Zero (0) points are awarded if a Club scores the least points in a quarter or loses the game.

·       The maximum number of points available to a Club who wins the game is seven (7) – four (4) points for winning each quarter and three (3) points for winning the game.

·       The maximum number of points available to a Club who loses a game is three (3) points – three (3) points for winning three (3) quarters.

·       If a game goes to overtime, no further points are awarded other than the three (3) points for winning the game.

What are the current standings:

 Limited tickets are still available to Wednesday night’s game, which gets underway at 7pm ACDT.

Adults can get to the game for as little as $25 with $10 tickets on offer for kids and a special $60 family pass available with the codeword 36ers25.