Noi eyes grand final revenge against Gold Coast

Kouat Noi is not afraid to talk the talk.

Last season he predicted he’d win the MVP and took his USC Rip City to the NBL1 North Grand Final Series before falling short to the Gold Coast Rollers.

Now on Saturday, the Rollers will host Rip City in a do-or-die game, where the 2023 NBL1 North First Team member is motivated to get revenge.

“I’m pretty excited for it. I think from point guard to the five-man, I think it’s a good match-up from the starters,” he said on the In The North podcast.

“I still don’t believe they have anybody to guard me this weekend so I’m not too worried about the match-up. Other than that, they’re the ones with their backs against the wall this weekend…  we are coming in to get that win and knock them out.

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“We started to gel a little bit more towards the end of the season, we won five of our last seven games,” said Noi, who was this week named in the NBL1 North First-Team.

“We have a lot of momentum coming into this game, so like I said before, we have nothing to worry about. They’re the ones who have everything to lose this weekend.”

Last season’s Grand Final saw a hostile crowd towards Noi, who said on Instagram that the Rollers had claimed their “First & only win of the Finals” after the first game. 

Noi said that the crowd will definitely remember that and he’s up for the challenge.

“Oh for sure, they try to get everyone there when Kouat Noi’s in town, so we’ll see what’s up. They’ll probably print some posters about me too, so I’m pretty keen to play,” he told Jon Guarna.

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When asked for a prediction for Saturday’s result, Noi did not shy away from bold statement. 

“Yeah not even close, we are gonna beat them Saturday night for sure,” Noi said.

“They’re the ones who have to go to sleep on Friday night knowing they have to play Kouat Noi the next day, so yeah I’m just chilling.”