Perth Wildcats vs Cairns Taipans - NYE Preview

Game Details
Perth Wildcats vs Cairns Taipans
5.00pm WST Friday 31 December at Cairns Convention Centre
Watch live on ESPN – available via Kayo or Foxtel

Context
The Perth Wildcats are coming off an 11-day break between games, after their Tuesday night clash with the Adelaide 36ers was postponed due to NBL Covid Protocols.
The Wildcats flew from Perth to Adelaide on Monday, and to Cairns on Thursday. Friday’s game will be their first away game of 2021/22.
It will be Perth’s second meeting with the Taipans this season.
The Wildcats go into the game on top of the standings with a 4-1 record, while the Taipans have won two of their three games. Cairns also haven’t played since 18 December.
The Perth Wildcats last win at the Cairns Convention Centre was in December 2019.

What the coach had to say
“Everyone has handled it (the changes) well, all things considered. They’re tough circumstances, not the best way to start the trip away but we had a couple of good practices which was nice and, knock on wood, it looks like we’ll have a game tomorrow. I hope so anyway!” – Scott Morrison

Roster Availability 
The Perth Wildcats will welcome the return of Mitch Norton and Matt Hodgson for this game.
Mitch Norton has not played at all this pre-season or season after injuring his knee prior to the NBL Blitz tournament. 
Matt Hodgson missed the last four games with a calf injury. He suffered the injury in the early minutes of the team’s season opener against the 36ers.
Todd Blanchfield will remain sidelined.
Development players Kyle Zunic and Corey Shervill will be in the 12-man team

Opponents to watch out for
Tahjere McCall has impressed for the Taipans so far this season and leads his team with 16.3 points per game while also grabbing 7.0 rebounds and dishing out 6.0 assists. He’s a defensive specialist, so expect to see him go to Bryce Cotton or Vic Law at different times throughout the game. 
Big man Stephen Zimmerman is leading the NBL in rebounds with 11.7 per game.

Last time they met
The Wildcats hosted Cairns in Round One at RAC Arena, coming away big 90-67 winners. The Taipans actually held and eight-point led halfway through the second quarter but were dominated by the home team for the remainder of the match. 
It was Bryce Cotton’s night. The MVP had a season-high 31 points on the back of six three-pointers. He scored 27 points in the second and third quarters alone.
Kouat Noi was the Taipans best with 17 points and five rebounds.

Fun Facts and Stats
The Perth Wildcats haven’t missed a free throw since 12 December, making their last 27 as a team.
Wildcats Vic Law (24.2ppg) and Bryce Cotton (23.6ppg) are currently the top-two ranked scorers in the NBL.
Bryce Cotton (425 threes) currently sits one three-pointer behind Jesse Wagstaff on the Wildcats all-time three-pointers made list. The pair are second and third behind Ricky Grace, who drained 960 in his 482-game career.

History
Perth and Cairns have met 86 times, with the Wildcats winning 51.
More recently, the Wildcats have won eight of their last nine games against the Taipans. The loss came the last time they visited the Cairns Convention Centre in Game Two of the 2020 semi-finals.

Milestones
20-year-old Luke Travers will play his 50th game for the Perth Wildcats.