Rillie: 'Everyone stepped up' in dominant display

Was this the moment that stamped the Perth Wildcats as legitimate championship contenders?

Right from the first tip on Thursday night, John Rillie’s team looked hungrier, sharper and in many ways dominated their more fancied opponents, Melbourne United.

If this was the coming-of-age moment for a team that on paper owns some of the league’s best talent and depth, the statement could not have been louder.

“For me it is always tricky and you hold your breath to see how your team comes out after having such an extended break,” Rillie said post-game.

“Melbourne United are going to really challenge you in all those areas and we just were not good enough the last time. As professionals and competitors, you address that and we had an opportunity to measure ourselves again against the best team in the league. That is the pleasing part.”

The usual candidates were as brilliant as ever; Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, Kristian Doolittle and Dylan Windler all had big moments. But it was the Wildcats’ impressive depth that made it a complete performance.

“Two minutes, three or four minutes, everywhere you turned someone else was doing a job, which adds up. Different moments, different guys stepped up,” Rillie said.

“Dylan (Windler), we challenge him every week. He has a defensive assignment. He was aggressive hunting his threes when we really needed that to happen, but his defensive effort on the glass was terrific.

“It was great to see Duke (David Duke Jr) and the way he responded after last game. (Tyson) Walker absolutely killed us last game and Duke took that challenge and did a really good job on him tonight. We talk about that and we have not even talked about the other guys who helped contribute.

“(Elijah) Pepper on the offensive glass, Do (Doolittle) being consistent, Jo putting so much pressure downhill at the foul line, and (David Okwera) continuing to thrive this year. It was really pleasing to see.”

Perth also got valuable contributions from Sunday Dech (8 points) and Ben Henshall (6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), in perhaps their best performance of NBL26.

“We talked about a few things we needed to change up, just our effort and our consistency,” Rillie continued.

“Your energy at that end translates to the other end. Early on we did a great job getting in transition, kicking it ahead, getting them on the back foot. They (United) are an elite half-court defensive team, so keeping them out of that space was really good tonight.”

Rillie said getting a scalp against the ladder-leaders would give his players great confidence.

“It was important in a way and it is easy to talk hindsight now that we know the result,” he added.

“To go back-to-back against the best team, could we improve, could we bring the juice required to play against that. We get a feeling of what you need on a nightly basis to be at that level. Now we know what it takes. Can we replicate it? Can we find a nice rhythm within the group to continue with that?”

Perth hosts Adelaide and Bryce Cotton on Sunday at RAC Arena, live on ESPN and 10 Drama from 4.30pm AEDT.