Wolves at Eagles – BBL Championship Preview

Friday 28 September

Newcastle Eagles v Worcester Wolves

OleDJ

Newcastle Eagles welcome Worcester Wolves to Sport Central on Friday, following a weekend of contrasting fortunes for the two teams.

The Eagles will take to the court on the back of two impressive wins against Glasgow Rocks and London Lions whilst the under strength Wolves stumbled to a home defeat against last season’s basement club, Durham Wildcats. Things were somewhat different last season when the matchups between the two sides were tough and close encounters including the memorable clash at Sport Central that ended the Eagles 13-game winning streak. Charles Smith rained 37 points down on the Wolves that night but a remarkable Tommy Freeman inspired comeback lifted the Wolves to a 94-86 victory.

Speaking to the BBL Fab Flournoy is ready for a tough battle nonetheless:

“Worcester caused us significant problems last season and I expect them to be very competitive this year. They have a really solid floor general and size in virtually every position. Losing at home the first weekend was a little surprising but it’s so early in the season that it’s in no way an indication of how they will do this year. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue at the point guard will run their team well – if he gets into the country in time – but Kaslauskas and Masiulas should also provide a consistent inside/outside threat.”

Joe Chapman, in particular, looked impressive in the opening weekend with strong performances in both games. Chapman averaged 20.2 points, 3.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds last season and he’s already looking as though an even better year is within his grasp.

Indeed, Flournoy was pleased with all his key men, “We were good against the Rocks, albeit we suffered a little with fatigue at the end of the game. However our defence and rebounding were pretty consistent throughout and that was pleasing. Joe [Chapman, pictured] came out setting the tone for us with his offence and as the game went on we were able get other guys involved as well. For Rocks Gareth Murray was aggressive and Sterling [Davis – Rocks’ player-coach] himself really played hard and made us work all the way to the end.

“Against Lions we started slowly but eventually got into some rhythm and I was delighted with the level of defence we were able to maintain throughout. We closed the game out very professionally in the second half and it was pleasing to have five guys scoring in double figures. We got solid leadership at the PG position from Damon [Huffman] and Ant [Anthony Martin], opportunistic scoring from Charles [Smith] and Joe [Chapman] and excellent inside performances from Kareem [Maddox] and Darius [Defoe].

Damian

Wolves ran Eagles close last season both in terms of in the individual matchups and the race for top spot, but this new look side has got to earn the respect of the league again.

Worcester look to be without Sherrad Prezzie-Blue again and without him, you can’t think that the Eagles are anything but strong favourites. Wolves definitely have more talent on their roster in terms of quantity this season and new guys Ocitti, Masiulis and Worcester MVP against Durham, Owumi, all showed that they could have a lot to say in games throughout this season. But until their play caller returns it doesn’t look like any of the players whether new or returning can bed in to their roles in this new look team.

More BBL game time against the team to beat will be a good challenge for the Wolves squad though and Paul James will have been running the D hard in training this week after a no show against Durham. Expect Masiulis to begin to find his feet and it may be an option to use Fernandez in the back court and allow Owumi to play the small forward role to greater effect. That probably won’t be the way it goes, but after one sighting of his charges in competitive action, James has shown before that he can coach teams to be better and better every game. Something that Wolves fans can look forward to for the season ahead.