Wells says Humphries set for huge impact

Adelaide 36ers head coach Mike Wells will be looking for star big man Isaac Humphries to make a statement this weekend.

Humphries almost singlehandedly brought the 36ers back from a 13-point final quarter deficit against Tasmania last round and Wells knows his team must play through his starting centre.

“Isaac Humphries is a really, really good player, and I think we tend to forget about him when the spotlight has been on other guys,” Wells said.

“His defence has been outstanding the whole year, we put a lot of pressure on him, but he protects the rim for us.

“Isaac has been a good player in this league for a long time.”

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Humphries scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the final quarter against the JackJumpers and will play a big role on Friday night against the Bullets frontcourt of Rocco Zikarski and Tyrell Harrison.

Wells said his coaching staff have learnt from the loss to Tasmania, working on different line-ups and rotations as the side face another match with suspended star import duo Kendric Davis and Montrezl Harrell.

“You have some time to put the rotations together and put them on the floor at practice (this week),” Wells said.

“We saw some positive things out there and we are showing signs.

“You see the guys out there trying, trying to move the ball to the second side, trying to attack close outs.

“We only shot 15 free throws (against Tasmania) we got to do better than that.

“We need to fight through and get downhill and fight into the defence.”

Wells said the next generation, led by Keanu Rasmussen, will again see minutes in Friday night’s showdown against the Bullets in Brisbane.

“We have watched him (Rasmussen) grow since August,” Wells said.

“Him playing a point guard position in probably the fastest game he has been in, you feel that as a young guard.

“Once he got back into the game, he settled and you could see his quickness and he did make some great finishes.”

After giving up 29 points in the opening quarter against the JackJumpers, Wells was thrilled with how his side turned up the defensive pressure and knows that must continue moving forward.

“There was really a lot of positives defensively and we have to keep improving our defence and now we get an opportunity to go on the road and do that,” Wells said.

“We are going to get a lot of minutes into a lot of our young guys over the next part of the schedule, which is really positive for the club.

“We got another job to do on the road before we get some guys back, so our focus is on Friday night.”