Jamaica’s national basketball head coach Rick Turner wants a change in mentality from his players as the team looks to rebound from last Thursday’s excruciating 93-99 loss to Bahamas in a bid to stop Canada today.
Jamaica defied the odds last November defeating the more highly fancied Puerto Rico twice in their backyard, and it’s that mentality that Turner feels was lacking on Thursday, as after leading in three quarters, the JamRockerz let that slip to go down by three points.
During his post-match press conference, a clearly annoyed Turner felt the team had moved away from their identity.
“I think we just got to get back to who we are. When we were in Puerto Rico, we had a real bunker mentality, like us against the world sort of thing. I mentioned this to everybody pre-game, at half-time, and before the game, for whatever reason, we just had a weird vibe that never felt like us.”
The Canadians lead the group standings after being perfect on the court, beating the Bahamas twice and condemning Puerto Rico to their third straight loss. Turner wants his team to dig deeper.
“We played with a togetherness that allowed us to overcome some of those mistakes, and one of the things in Puerto Rico that was really good was that communication. And it just, it wasn’t there [on Thursday against the Bahamas]. And it was really hard to try to find how to push the right buttons. So I don’t know, I can’t tell you why, but we need to get it figured out before the fifth-ranked team in the world comes in.”
FAN SUPPORT
Japan-based Centre Kofi Cockburn, who had a double-double on Thursday, recording 20 points and 12 rebounds, pointed to the fan support last Thursday and wants the fans to return to the National Indoor Sports Centre for Sunday’s game.
“It was unbelievable being the first time doing it here in Jamaica and everybody came out. We love the support and we love the love and we hope everybody comes out again on Sunday.”
The seven-foot-tall Cockburn, who plies his trade with Hiroshima Dragonflies in Japan, was confident that Jamaica, who remain on course to create further history, can defeat Canada.
“Just our energy, I think we were low today (Thursday) from coming out and we need to pick that up, communicating more, we need to communicate from offence to defence, just pick that up and we will be good.”
The last time the teams met was in 2013 when the Canadians ran away with a commanding 85-64 win.
Led by the lethal Kyle Wiltjer, the six-foot-10-inch power forward, who suits up for Umana Reyer Venezia in Italy, is currently their best scorer, averaging 18.5 points per game. Canada lead Group B on six points.
Jamaica are in second place on five points, followed by the Bahamas on four with Puerto Rico sitting at the foot of the group standings on three.
The top three teams from the group will advance to the second round of Americas qualifiers, from where the top three from two second-round groups will advance to the 2027 FIBA World Cup. The two fourth-place team will go to a playoff for a final spot.
The Jamaicans are in action at 6 p.m. at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
