Manchester Giants look to build on their impressive start to the BBL season with a double header this weekend against Surry Scorchers and Glasgow Rocks.
Last time out the Giants picked up their second win from two against Plymouth Raiders with a 95-89 victory in their first home game of the season.
Giants forward Ingus Bankevics, who grabbed 20 points against the Raiders, is wary of the challenges this weekend will offer however, with the Manchester side playing both Friday and Sunday.
“This will be a hard weekend with both games away, but we will try do our best.
“I expect it will be really hard, but we hope we will play our game, and we have a lot of jobs we need to do.
“I think the most important thing is to play hard, trust our team-mates and of course luck. If we play like a team, we can beat everyone,” said Bankevics.
Revenge will be on the mind of coach Yorick Williams this weekend, as last season Surrey defeated Manchester Giants as part of a losing streak which would see them miss out on the BBL Play-Offs.
Glasgow Rocks also defeated the Giants 91-82 in their last meeting, which was at the Lucozade Powerleague Sportsdome in March.
Coach Williams remains grounded however, and has reason to be confident after his side’s solid performance last time out.
“We had a good win and worked hard. They made it difficult and they have some very good players but we worked hard and got it done.
“It’s a good way to start but it’s only a start. We’ll go back and keep trying to improve.”
The Giants seem like a reformed outfit this season, and their guard Callum Jones will look to build on being named in BBL’s All-Star Five for the first two weeks of the season.
The experienced Olu Babalola has also been in scintillating form achieving a game-high 23 points last time out, and connected with six of his eight three-point attempts against Plymouth Raiders.
Giants face Surrey at 7.30pm tonight and travel to Glasgow for 5pm on Sunday.
