Intensity is the key for the Wollongong Hawks as they look to conquer the Adelaide 36ers on Saturday.
While the Hawks have proven themselves at home they play five of their next six games on the road, where Glen Saville says they need to step up a notch.
"At this stage the thorn in our side has been going on the road and we haven't been able to be consistent on the road and we have to be able to do that," Saville said.
"We need to be cool under pressure and be composed in situations and be able to thrive off of that pressure and be able to execute under it."
"We need to be able to do that at training and push each other so we can become better at those things."
"The most important thing is that we have more effort across the board, having that intensity right from the start of the game is a big issue for us."
Adelaide is intent on claiming its first win since acquiring hot-shot import Julius Hodge and it is one of the teams gunning to remove the Hawks from the top six.
"We're coming up against teams that are desperate, but look at ourselves as well; we're hungry to beat those teams," Saville said.
"The games that we feel we should be winning, they're the games we need to be winning."
"Not taking anything away from the teams that have played pretty well against us, but they're the teams we need to beat, teams that are below us on the ladder are teams we need to knock off."
"When we play against some of those top teams hopefully we can pick up a few wins to give us the ability to finish in the top four."
Saville, who leads Wollongong by example at both ends of the floor, acknowledged his defensive assignment against Hodge will be his toughest to date.
"I've got my work cut out for me, there's none tougher than him right now," he said.
"He creates a lot for his team-mates and that makes him pretty tough to guard, obviously his ability to break down players one-on-one and make the defence collapse and kick it out to their shooters makes it tough.''
''He's really long, he rebounds the ball really well, right across the board he's a very versatile player.''