"We owe it to our fans": Tatum calls for response

The last time the Illawarra Hawks stepped onto the WIN Entertainment Centre court, they suffered their franchise's worst ever defeat, losing by 42 points to New Zealand.

And while they backed that up with another loss to Adelaide on Sunday, the Hawks showed plenty more fight.

Now championship-winning coach Justin Tatum is calling for his team to produce an even better performance for their fans, in the first matchup with Melbourne since last year's thrilling Championship Series.

"The guys understand that they feel really embarrassed [about the performance against the Breakers], not just for the organisation, but for the fans in general and themselves," Tatum told the Illawarra Mercury.

"That's why you've seen a totally different team against Adelaide, where you know the ball could have gone any way, we could have had it, but now we just wanna build off that passion, that understanding to get back to Hawks basketball.

"We owe that to the fans."

Despite sitting in last place on the ladder, with a 2-6 record, the Hawks will go in confident against the competition front-runners.

“I’m excited to get to the Sandpit and play the best team in the league right now,” Tatum said in Sunday's post-game press conference.

“If my team plays like this with a full, healthy roster for the rest of the season, we can beat anybody… I’m very happy with the effort my guys gave and I’m hoping they will give it for the rest of the season.”

Wednesday night's Ignite Cup fixture tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.

‍Read the full story here >> 'We owe you': Tatum guarantees 'everything will be different' against United