RADISSON Blu UL Eagles face an extremely tough test this weekend as they face off to an unbeaten Templeogue in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League.
Eagles, who have just one win from their seven games so far, have been improving week on week, most recently almost shocking an on-form UCC Demons in Limerick last weekend, just losing out in the last four minutes of the game.
Head Coach for Radisson Blu UL Eagles Thomas Walsh is ready for the table toppers.
“Top of the table, unbeaten – it’s a tough team to prepare for with all their weapons, but hopefully we can slow them down and keep the big guys as far away from the basket as we can. We’re pretty good at running teams so hopefully our running will be good and we use it to our advantage, we’re pretty athletic and fast, but the height may be an issue for us.
“Last week against Demons was an intense game from start to finish, a lot of up and down. We ran out of steam at the end, and they had two Irish players come up with 28 and 26 points and when you have two of them coming up like that it takes you by surprise and it was hard to work against.
“This week, we need to slow Templeogue down, and slow the game down. We need to try and stop the likes of Jason Killeen throwing the ball the length of the floor, and hopefully if we bring the game to our pace, we can turn it around and get up the floor and maybe they won’t be able to keep up with us. Home advantage is good – we were undermanned and undersized for our last two home games and the boys stepped up. We were close to Killester and Demons in two games where we weren’t expected to be close at all.
“Teams go to sleep on us a bit when they see us, as they see we are without an American and I think we’ve shocked a few teams. I’ll always be confident with this team as they have been stepping up, you hope that the same team that showed up for the last two home games has learned something from those games and can finish it out this time round.”
Meanwhile in the Women’s Division One, UL Huskies face Ulster University Elks. It’s been a mixed journey in the League so far for Huskies, with three wins from five games to date, and they will be hoping to add another victory this weekend when they face the Ulster side who have just one win under their belts so far.
ENDS
Limerick Fixtures: November 26th
Saturday 26th November 2016
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Radisson Blu UL Eagles v Templeogue, PESS Building-UL, 19:30;
Basketball Ireland Women’s Division 1:
UL Huskies v Ulster University Elks, UL PESS Building, 17:00;
