IT will be a South Australian road trip for the Hurricanes, as Hamilton faces a tough start to 2024 with Hamilton set to face Millicent tonight and Mount Gambier tomorrow in Country Basketball League (CBL) action this weekend.

It was a mixed bag of results for the Hurricanes in the 11 rounds played before Christmas, with one win and a couple of blowouts, while costly third quarters cost the team two games as well.

The trip west won’t be easy with the Magic sitting third and the Lakers in top spot.

Hurricanes co-coach, Dean Le Roy said the team had enjoyed a couple of weeks off the court and was raring to go this weekend.

“It has actually been really good, we stopped training after Colac, so we have had two weeks off,” he said.

“It is a little bit harder to get back into it after a break, but we had a session on Tuesday night.”

With the rest of the season set to be played away from the Hurricanes’ home court at HILAC, Le Roy said generating their own momentum would be important.

“We learnt at Colac that away games are a lot harder than home, we have got to bring your own energy,” he said.

“The boys are talking about going there and getting a win, so the spirit is high and I think we are a good chance if we can play good basketball against Millicent.

“I have heard Millicent have got a couple of their better players in America at a basketball camp.

“Mount Gambier will fly under the radar, I would love to beat them but if we can be competitive, that is good.”

Hamilton has lost Matt Parker for the rest of the season after his work situation changed, while the Hurricanes will also be without Jakob Greaves for the round 12 double header with a back issue.

James Cleaver will return to the squad, while Jackson Talbot is back training and is pushing for a return to the side after an injury in round two.

It will force a shuffle of positions, with Bailey Cooper set to step up.

“Bailey plays the five role when we are missing a big, so he can slot into the four role where Jakob was and stop his opponent,” Le Roy said.

With momentum the key driver of the team’s performance, Le Roy hopes the team can continue to adapt in game as players get more experience at CBL level.

“This week I got back into it, we had a couple of games recorded and so did a full breakdown,” he said.

“There were times where we have had momentum, but gone away from what we were doing, then not being able to stop the other team when they have momentum.

“Looking back on it, Colac just defended our offensive set up – we had backups but nothing we have had enough experience at yet in game.

“It is just game time experience, especially at CBL level.”

Tonight’s clash gets underway at 7pm at Millicent Stadium, with tomorrow’s game set for 12.30pm at Bern Bruning Basketball Stadium.