Ahead of his 50th NBL game, young gun Joe Ingles says the Crazy John's South Dragons are ready to fight for their season against the Gold Coast Blaze tonight.
Twenty-year-old Ingles will notch his first major milestone in the league at the Gold Coast Convention Centre tonight, but it is team success that he is craving.
"It's obviously a massive game for us now," Ingles said from the Gold Coast last night.
"I think we have got 15 games left and we are going to have to win 10 of them to get close to even and hopefully a spot in the eight."
Ingles said playing-coach Shane Heal had identified areas for desperate improvement.
"We've been breaking down a lot. I think we wanted to be a great defensive team and we knew we could score and put points on the board, and defence would be the thing that won or lost games for us," Ingles explained.
"So far it has definitely lost us games.
"We've had some pretty bad breakdowns in some games and it showed losing by 30 to Cairns and 20 to Gold Coast last time.
"If we start playing 'D' as a team and getting some stops we can string some games together."
Ingles said the feeling within the camp as it prepares to round out a nine-day, three-game road-trip was still upbeat.
"It's a tough situation. We are 4-11 and I think most of the guys here are used to being on winning teams.
"Last year we started off the same, we were 0-6 and we got back. It's not a good situation, nobody likes losing, everyone wants to win and be that best team.
"The guys have been good, trying to stay positive, and with the personnel we have got we know we should be a better team and can turn it around if we knuckle down and play some tough basketball."
While far from enjoying the unproductive period on the court, Ingles understands it could be beneficial in the long run.
"I don't think I will realise it has been good for me for another year or two. It's definitely an experience. I have never been in a team that has been second-to-bottom and having a pretty big role in the team, it is hard," he said.
"Once we've all gone through it and realise the club is on the way up, the guys that are around the place will never want to go back there. We don't want to have a losing culture at the Dragons so we want to pick it up and we will."
Meanwhile, Dragons star Jacob Holmes will also reach a landmark when he plays his 200th NBL game tonight.