Donte Nicholas has been growing in confidence in his first BBL season and was named the Molten BBL Player of the Month for December this past week.
The American averaged 17.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game during the month for Plymouth Raiders and he believes the whole team have raised their level.
“Honestly, being recognised for playing well is a good feeling, but looking at it from a larger scope the team as a whole has been playing better and that’s what is most important to me right now,” said Nicholas.
Plymouth start their BBL Trophy campaign on Sunday with a long road trip to Scotland to take on Boroughmuir Blaze – and Nicholas is adamant his side won’t be taking their opponents lightly.
“We’re looking at any game we have as an opportunity to keep the momentum going.. no matter who or where we play. That has to be our mindset if we want to contend with the top teams like we should be.
“Since we are approaching the business end of the season, time for losing focus or taking a team for granted has long been gone.
“Whenever we step inside the lines and jump ball we have to take care of business regardless.
“Our goal is to give 40 mins of our best basketball every game, no matter the opponent or other outside factors because that’s what good teams do.”
There are three other non-BBL teams looking to spring a surprise this weekend with NBL Division 1 trio Essex Leopards, Reading Rockets and Derby Trailblazers all in action.
The Leopards host Manchester Giants tonight with the BBL side starting a big road double-header as they also face off against Bristol Flyers tomorrow.
Andreas Kapoulas’ side round off the weekend away at Reading with Derby hosting Esh Group Eagles Newcastle on Saturday evening.
The Eagles’ attention will firstly be on tonight’s clash with Cheshire Phoenix as they aim to stretch their lead at the top of the BBL Championship.
Cheshire recorded an impressive win away at Glasgow Rocks last Friday and they are on the road for a second time on Sunday with a trip to Leeds Force in the BBL Trophy.
The Rocks will be aiming to bounce back and take on Leicester Riders in a huge First Round encounter on Sunday with Worcester Wolves hosting DBL Sharks Sheffield live on BBC Sport tonight.
A reminder that all BBL games are available to watch LIVE at livebasketball.tv (excluding non All-BBL Trophy ties).