Preview: New Zealand vs Illawarra - Round 8, NBL24

Sunday, November 19 at 2pm AEDT | Spark Arena

Watch: Live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach and 10 Play | Sky Sports in NZ - International viewership details
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Illawarra parted ways with head coach Jacob Jackomas earlier this week, after the former assistant led the side to just five wins in 37 games in the top job. Justin Tatum has been named as interim coach while the club looks for a successor.

Hawks GM of Basketball Mat Campbell and CEO Stu Taggart have earmarked a proven ability to win at the top level as a key criteria for the new coach. Brian Goorjian has already ruled out a return to the post, while Trevor Gleeson has revealed he’s been in discussions with the club.

Will McDowell-White suffered a suspected fractured fibula in Thursday’s win for New Zealand over Tasmania.

Mody Maor has said he has not seen film of Tatum coaching, but believes the new coach will have his “fingerprints” on his side for his first game in charge.

New Zealand
97-92 win over Tasmania
76-94 loss to Perth
85-87 loss to Sydney

Illawarra
71-81 loss to Cairns
83-103 loss to Sydney
84-96 loss to Melbourne

Izayah Le’Afa
Izayah Le’Afa seems to be Mody Maor’s go-to guy when the going gets tough. Rain, hail, or shine, the Breakers head coach knows exactly what he’s going to get from the former South East Melbourne guard.

Le’Afa started Thursday’s win over Tasmania alongside Will McDowell-White and Parker Jackson-Cartwright, and when WMW went down before halftime, the New Zealand international once again stepped up in his absence.

Jackson-Cartwright may be taking most of the plaudits for the Breakers this season, but Le’Afa was incredibly active on the defensive end to finish the clash with five steals – including intercepting a pass bound for Milton Doyle to seal the game, with just over 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

With McDowell-White has suffereing a fracture to his fibula, Maor might be leaning on Le’Afa for a few weeks yet, and that won’t hurt him in the slightest.

“I trust Izayah very much, he does a lot of things the right way and he has a lot of guts. He played tough and he played extended minutes and when he’s on the court I trust him to do good things. I’m not surprised by it and my expectations for him are even higher than this.” – Mody Maor following New Zealand’s win over Tasmania.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Izayah Le&#39;afa comes up HUGE in the clutch ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo | Sky Sport in NZ ? <a href="https://t.co/fxeR0t77L4">pic.twitter.com/fxeR0t77L4</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1725097680706158742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

AJ Johnson
It would be easy to make a case to place literally any Hawks player here given everything that’s gone on with the club’s coaching changes this week, but given new interim head coach Justin Tatum’s singling out of AJ Johnson, it’s exciting to see how the Next Star will perform under what looks like will be a larger role.

Johnson has struggled to earn extended burn for the Hawks so far this season, and The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie recently labelled him as a likely “project” for any team that drafts him.

Make no mistake though, the kid can play.

Johnson has shown flashes of the pure ability that has had him touted as a potential first round talent among some draft circles. Now, the question is just will he be afforded the opportunity to showcase it?

“AJ is going to be a useful attribute for us. I think the last couple of months of him working in training and sitting and hopefully building up his hunger has endured him to come out here and help us win games ... I think he’s going to be a big factor in us winning some games.” - Hawks interim coach Justin Tatum on AJ Johnson mid-week.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New Hawks coach Justin Tatum has plans for Next Star AJ Johnson ??<br>?<br>Read more: <a href="https://t.co/9VNRPzzO0N">https://t.co/9VNRPzzO0N</a> <a href="https://t.co/fzVsnMDWET">pic.twitter.com/fzVsnMDWET</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1724935321857753237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mangok Mathiang vs Sam Froling
Hawks star Sam Froling has the potential to be one of the NBL’s top centers, and there are weeks where he most certainly is. However on Sunday he’ll be coming up against a player who intimately knows his game – Mangok Mathiang.

Froling dropped and 18-point, 10 rebound double-double to be one of the only Hawks players who could emerge from Illawarra’s defeat to Cairns with his head held high last week, and it’s games like that which make fans wonder why his side doesn’t play through him more.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sam Froling drains the 3?? at the ?<a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Illawarrahawks</a> lead the <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cairnstaipans</a> 38-33 at the half ?<br><br>Catch the second half live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/jTYfJiRNBL">pic.twitter.com/jTYfJiRNBL</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1723241437960024249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mathiang made his return to professional basketball last season with Froling and the Hawks, and played a more than capable backup role to the fringe Boomer as he started to once again find his feet at the top level.

With no Zylan Cheatham to call on in rotation at the center position – and no Will McDowell-White – the Breakers are injury struck, and Mathiang’s ability to hold down the paint without fouling will be crucial to allowing Mody Maor to move through the rotations he wants to.

Mathiang fouled out of New Zealand’s Round 4 clash with Melbourne in less than eight minutes, but followed that up with a massive 11-point, 14 rebound double-double against Perth last week.

The difference between the best and the worst of both Froling and Mathiang is huge, but whoever can turn it on for their side may hold the keys to this game.

Mangok Mathiang.

Last weekend Tyler Harvey came off the bench for the first time in his 101-game NBL career. How will Tatum look to shake things up with this Hawks group hungry for a win?

Tyler Harvey.

New Zealand
Mantas Rubstavicius – lower leg (test)
Zylan Cheatham – foot (Round 12)
Justinian Jessup – pelvis (TBC)
Will McDowell-White - fibua (Round 14)

Illawarra
Todd Blanchfield – personal (TBC)