NYIETH ADAPTS IN A HURRY
SATURDAY HAWKS v SUPERCATS
WANG Nyieth has gone from not knowing many people in Geelong to being a recognised and respected name in basketball circles.
After playing a few years of junior basketball in Melbourne for the Collingwood All-Stars and winning championships with the Yarra Wildbeasts in the South Sudanese Basketball Tournament, Nyieth took a year off the sport after moving to Geelong with his family because he was new to the area and didn’t know that many people.
“The next year someone invited me along to tryouts, and I made the Geelong Supercats’ under-18 team. From there, I was just always trying to get better, keep playing and just improve,” Nyieth said.
Improve he did, landing a spot in the Supercats’ youth league team in 2017 and scooping up a coach’s award, two MVPs and an All-Star 5 selection in his three years in the program, as well as starring in Geelong’s Country Basketball League team over summer.
“I didn’t know much about SEABL (now NBL1) or Big V until I came to Geelong to be honest,” Nyieth said. “I just wanted to play and get better.”
Nyieth’s talent and passion for the game caught the eye of NBL1 coach Justin Schueller, who signed the 19-year-old to the Geelong Supercats NBL1 roster for 2021.
The signing has proved fruitful already, with Nyieth starring in the Supercats’ opening game against Knox last week and helping lead the team to its first win.
“Before the game I was very nervous. Everyone (on the team) was cheering me up, saying, ‘It’s just another game of basketball. Just go out there and do what you gotta do, we know you can play’. I just gotta play, if I muck up it’s just a game of basketball.
“To play like that (on Saturday night) … it wasn’t all my performance, it was all my teammates. Without them I wouldn’t have played like that,” Nyieth said.
With his parents now living in Alice Springs, Nyieth is relying on his Geelong teammates to continue to push him and guide him in his basketball journey, wherever that may lead him.
The team will face a new challenge this Saturday night as it takes on the Ringwood Hawks in another road game, with Schueller keen to see his team continue to evolve and play the right style of basketball for four quarters.
“Ringwood’s strength is that their core group has played together for a long time. We’re continuing to evolve a somewhat new group, but getting a greater understanding of how we want to play,” Schueller said. 6pm 8pm
Bellarine v Bulleen, 7.30pm
BIG V CHAMPIONSHIP
Warrnambool v Corio Bay, 8pm
Western Port v Bellarine, 7pm