The Road Diary: Sunday Dech

It was a return to familiar territory for Sunday Dech, as he came back to face his old team, the Illawarra Hawks.

Dech played for the Hawks for 2019-20, playing alongside now Charlotte Hornet LaMelo Ball, but the travel to his old team was anything but smooth, with the Sydney wind playing havoc on Wednesday afternoon.

"It was a long day, having three or four flight delays throws you out a little bit," he said.

"I'm grateful we got here rather than flying the day of the game.

"We got in at around 11.30, a quick shower and stretch to flush the jet lag and then went straight to bed.

"I think myself and the boys were quite tired after that."

Dech was rooming with another rising star of the NBL, Kai Sotto, and said the Filipino is a good roommate.

"I'm with Kai, he's good, he keeps to himself and is pretty quiet," he said.

"He snores, so I need to get to bed before him, but he's good and he's funny."

After a chaotic Wednesday, gameday started well for Dech ahead of shootaround before seeing some familiar faces before the game.

"We had a good sleep in this morning," he said.

"We went to shootaround, put the game plan into place on how we wanted to attack and defend the Hawks.

"We came back, had lunch and had a chilled afternoon.

"We executed really well.

"I went and saw some old friends from my time here in Illawarra (after shootaround).

"I saw them for about 30-40 minutes, gave them tickets to the game, had a nap."

Dech had 11 points, five rebounds and two assists in the 36ers' 96-80 win over the Hawks, and he was chuffed to see it all come together.

"It feels awesome, I think everyone did their part," he said.

"DJ and Robo were phenomenal on the inside being able to score the ball at such a high percentage.

"I think Drim being put into the starting line-up was fantastic."

The 36ers take on the Perth Wildcats on Saturday - get your tickets here.