Wells on the way

The Adelaide 36ers might have lost again on the road on Sunday, but they got to the line 37 times and did a lot of things that have coach Mike Wells excited.

Even with Montrezl Harrell ejected after having 20 points up to early in the last quarter, the Sixers made a run to get back within five points of Melbourne United, before they ended up losing by 20 to sit at 6-5 heading into the FIBA Break.

It was an upbeat Wells post-match.

"I think every day is still a challenge and we're trying to almost rebrand what the Adelaide 36ers stand for in this group and we're 6-5, we've got a winning record and we're right in the middle of it," Wells said.

"I don't see any negatives at all, we've got a really good group that's committed and we can do a lot of different things.

"I'm excited to get after it and coach the second half (of the season), and I think those guys are ready to keep going and we get a chance to compete on a bit more regular basis. I think that will help our group."

With two genuine MVP candidates in Harrell and Davis, a pure shooter and scorer with DJ Vasiljevic, and strong big men Jarell Martin and Isaac Humphries, Wells has plenty of weapons.

The 36ers also have plenty of role players, with Nick Marshall, Jason Cadee, Sunday Dech and Lat Mayen more than capable of having an impact.

Despite another tough loss on the road, Wells is feeling good heading into the break.

"Everybody's been really connected and they're trying at a very high level, which gives me hope as we keep pushing this thing ahead," he said.

"I don’t take any negatives from this loss, not any, absolutely not. I'm excited heading into the break, I'm excited for the games after the break and I'm excited to see how good this team can be."

The 36ers continue to get to the foul line more than any other team in the league this season as well, and that was on show again on Sunday.

Adelaide attempted 37 free-throws to 24 from Melbourne, and with Davis going 17/18 and Harrell 6/12 at the stripe, Wells wants that to continue to be one of their strengths.

Giving up 20/38 from three-point line is less than ideal though.

"Our whole team got to the free-throw line and I wish we shot a few more. We went 29/37 and we'd take that all the time, almost 40 attempts a game on a fast action," Wells said.

"We've got some speed and we have power, and we have a little bit of an advantage. If we try to arm wrestle them in the half-court it's to their advantage, so I thought us in our ability to try and get to the line was really key for us early on.

"It slowed the game at times for us to get us set, we just unfortunately couldn’t get back to their three-point shooters the way we wanted and we'll have to get better at that."