Olu Babalola has called for his Manchester Giants team mates to tighten up in defence to build on their victorious start to the British Basketball League.
Yorick Williams started his tenure as Manchester Giants player-head coach with a brilliant derby win in the first game of the season, defeating Cheshire Phoenix 87-75, chipping in with 15 points in the process.
The Giants now face their face home game of the season at the Lucozade Powerleague Trafford Sportsdome against Plymouth University Raiders on Sunday, and Giants forward Babalola has spoken on the need to build on their impressive start to the season.
“I think the absolute biggest thing we took away from last weekend’s game was our lack of defence. We really need to tighten it up and be there for our team-mates.
“Our on-the-ball defence isn’t too bad but our help defence needs a lot of work and that happens with repetition at practice.
“A positive, though, is we played hard for the majority of the game.
“I told the guys that in this league, if you play hard you’ll win a vast majority of the games, and the guys came out and played hard for one another,” the experienced star told the BBL website.
Olu Babalola hit 21 points on his full Giants debut and now needs just one more assist to reach 500 in his BBL career.
Babalola’s impressive performance in the first game of the season meant he earned a place on the BBL all-star five team of the week bench.
However teammate Callum Jones found himself in the starting five thanks to his 18 points and nine assists.
The Giants will look to build on that impressive form against Plymouth Raiders, who will be seeking revenge after their narrow 93-90 defeat to the Giants in April this year at the Plymouth Pavilions which all-but ended the Raiders’ slim hopes of reaching the BBL Play-offs.
Plymouth Raiders lost 79-69 to London Lions in their opening BBL match last Saturday, and co-captain Daryl Corletto is determined not to leave Sunday’s game empty-handed.
“We head up to Manchester on Sunday and we are going to be extremely hungry.
“There is no way we are dropping the first two games of the season,” Corletto told the Plymouth Herald.
Image courtesy of Manchester Giants via YouTube, with thanks.
