Roth salutes fight: “We played our arse off”

The Tasmania JackJumpers may have lost their second match from their past three fixtures on Wednesday, but head coach Scott Roth still believes there are plenty of positives to take from the result.

Their New Year's Eve loss to Illawarra comes in the middle of one of their toughest periods of the Hungry Jack's NBL26 Season, in which the JackJumpers play four games in eight days.

As such, in the post-game press conference, Roth explained how proud he is of his team's effort.

"It's all positive [tonight], we played our arse off," Roth said on Wednesday's post-game press conference.

"We played as hard as we possibly can and that's what we do every single night. We keep showing up and are in the fight, which is really pleasing.

"[The loss] is frustrating obviously, but we swung and maybe didn't execute quite as well in some situations there.

"Ultimately, they keep competing, which is fantastic in this short amount of time and all these games we got that are coming our way."

Despite those recent losses, Tasmania still sits in sixth spot, two wins ahead of seventh-placed New Zealand.

The final fixture in that challenging four-game stretch comes on Saturday when the JackJumpers host Melbourne United, a side they easily accounted for on December 23 at John Cain Arena.

Being back in front of their home fans at MyState Bank Arena, where the JackJumpers have only won three of their eight matches this season, Roth is confident his side will channel their famous mantra going into the game.

"It just goes back to defending the island, what we represent to the state and what the importance is," Roth said.

"It's an island with a lot of tough-minded people down there and they expect tough-minded players out there constantly battling for them.

"Our players really understand that and also want to represent themselves well, [which I'm confident they will do on Saturday]."

The Round 15 fixture at MyState Bank Arena tips off at 8pm AEDT, live on ESPN.