Kings locked in for Freeway Series battle with Hawks

The Sydney Kings will head south to Wollongong this weekend in search of their eighth victory of the NBL25 season.

Standing in their way of heading into the FIBA break on a winning note is Freeway Series rival Illawarra, who currently sit above the Hoops Capital club on the ladder with a 6-4 record.

As such, coach Brian Goorjian is expecting an extremely tough challenge come Saturday night at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

"This is a really important game for both teams," Goorjian said.

"The rivalry between the two teams, which have a lot of history in big games against one another, has gone up a notch recently and I know both teams want to go into the FIBA break on the back of a win.

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"Both teams have improved a lot since our meeting earlier in the season - a fixture and performance that no one in our group was happy with, so we're all very keen to make amends come Saturday night.

"Our team has had a really nice week on the training court and we're all locked in to get this one."

The Hawks won the first of four Adrian Hurley Cup clashes in September at Qudos Bank Arena, but both teams have improved a lot since then.