Cheshire Phoenix take on sides from opposite ends of the BBL table this weekend.
After travelling to face runaway leaders Newcastle Eagles at Sport Central tomorrow (7.30pm), the Nix welcome basement side Surrey United to the Northgate Arena on Sunday (5.30pm).
Eagles’ guard/forward Charles Smith said of the Nix: “They’re a very good team with several players that can put up big numbers.
“The key is handling their 'bigs' and preventing easy baskets. We are also going to have to rebound as a team because they are a great rebounding team and they get a lot of second-chance points that way.
“So if we can control that, we can control the game and put ourselves in a great position to win the game.”
Nix coach John Coffino knows his side are in the midst of a tough run of fixtures.
"It doesn't get any easier but our guys believe," he said. "It will be a major challenge for us but we might meet those guys (Newcastle) down the road in the play-offs and we want to see what we can do against them."
Nix new boy Martyn Gayle, meanwhile, says Surrey will be given plenty of respect on Sunday.
“They have some great players this year and I feel if they had this group of guys from the beginning they’d be in a completely different position,” said Gayle.
“Their outside threats are not to be taken lightly.”
