PREVIEW: Sharks swim south in search of first win

BBL Championship

After their superhuman efforts on opening weekend, the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks are back on the road making the lengthy journey to the South West to tackle Bristol Flyers. Those Delpeche brothers, Sheffield’s Marcus and Bristol’s Malcolm, go head to head once more as the Sharks look to get that all important first win of the campaign. In front of them are a Flyers side who revel in playing in front of their home crowd and who were victors over Manchester Giants on opening night; the team that the Sharks took to 2OT last Sunday.

Saturday – Flyers v Sharks – SGS College Arena – 7.30pm

Watch – British Basketball League – YouTube

Ones To Watch

Mike Miller – 24 year old guard back in Bristol for a second spell after averaging 9.5 points and 6.2 rebounds last season despite suffering an injury setback. Now fully recovered, Miller steered the Flyers to a 79-78 opening night win over Manchester with an outstanding statline of 18 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists.

Malcolm Delpeche – Twin brother of Sharks’ Marcus, whose mother is a Sheffield native. Started the season with a massive double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds in the standout win over a fancied Giants side.

Jelani Watson-Gayle – British point guard who has inked his first professional deal after a college career at Fresno Pacific University. Former GB Under 20 international and hit a valuable 19 points on his debut outing against Manchester.

Leslee Smith – British Virgin Islander, who initially played for the Flyers between 2016 and 2018, making 55 appearances and averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds per game. Also had brief spells with the Sharks and Plymouth Raiders and returns to the game after a short break.

Last Meeting

April 8^th 2022 – Bristol Flyers (Evans 26 Miller 13 Rogers 7) 72 B. Braun Sheffield Sharks (Johnson 27 Koch 21 Nichols / Ratinho 8) 75

Shark Bites

The Sharks have only lost the first three games once – season 2012-13. The first league win that season came in game 5 against Durham.

The Manchester game last Sunday was the Sharks 4^th overtime game of 2022. The game against the Giants was the 5^th time the two teams have gone into overtime, the Sharks winning 3 of those.

The last Sharks game in Bristol not to go to overtime was on 6^th December 2019. Sharks have won 2 of the 3 subsequent consecutive overtime games.

In 12 games played by the Sharks in Bristol, 4 have been won in regulation by 3 points or less and 3 more games went to overtime.

Hensy Sako is the first person born in the current millennium to play for the Sharks!

SharkNation

Ok so we didn’t get the dubs but we hope you agree SharkNation that our guys gave it their all on opening weekend? A huge round of applause goes to Sa’eed Nelson (33 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists) and Javion Ogunyemi (16 points 18 rebounds) for their monster performances in that Manchester thriller that earned them places off the bench in week one of the All Star Five. Don’t forget, you’ve only got just over a week to wait until we’re back in the Tank on Friday October 7^th when Caledonia Gladiators (Tickets – B. Braun Sheffield Sharks v Glasgow Rocks – BBL Championship Tickets, Fri 7 Oct 2022 at 19:30 | Eventbrite) come to town. Until then, head on over to the BBL YouTube platform (link at the top of this page) on Saturday evening where you can see if Atiba, Rodney and the guys get that first win. We are the Sharks – #KnowOurName #FearTheFin

Image

Adam Bates