Hawks want wins, not recognition

Saturday, December 14, 2024

"It was good to see my team play well for four quarters and fight through adversity."

The Illawarra Hawks’ championship credentials took another giant leap on Friday night, with a dominant victory over Melbourne.

If the Hawks didn’t have the attention of the league before dismantling United in enemy territory, surely they do now.

It was their fifth win on the road this season, and another key scalp, following victories against Perth (last week) at RAC Arena and Sydney earlier in the season at Qudos Bank Arena.

Illawarra couldn’t do much more to prove it's a legitimate contender in NBL25.

“We don’t care, we’re just going to keep doing it,” star center Sam Froling said, asked whether the Hawks deserve more recognition.

“I think winning speaks volumes. As many games as we can win, the more respect we’ll get,” coach Justin Tatum continued.

“We haven’t been the top of the echelon of the league in a while, so what we’re doing is probably surprising the league, but every day we come to practice, we work and we’re not surprising ourselves.”

The Hawks claimed top spot with Friday night’s 13-point win, as Froling (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tyler Harvey (31 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) dominated.

“It was good to see my team play well for four quarters and fight through adversity,” Tatum said of his group's ability to win at John Cain Arena.

“I’m happy with how they trusted each other out there and happy with how they encouraged each other to not get caught up in anything and just worry about the game.

“I really was proud of the growth in my group.”

Tatum encouraged his players to stay level-headed, but couldn’t be more excited with the progress they’ve made.

“It’s a tough place to play. We have not had so much success here (at John Cain Arena) since I’ve been the head coach here, but this is not Playoffs, this is regular season for us to get better, so I don’t really put it as a top-tier win, it’s just something that was built as a group.”

“We came into this game really confident, with a good game plan,” Froling added.

“We backed ourselves and everyone was talking about the record (five straight away losses against United) ... we pushed that to the side, this is another game, this is a team we know we can beat.

“We went out there and executed the game plan and got it done.”

The Hawks host Perth next Sunday at WIN Entertainment Centre.