Ballarat has started the new NBL1 men's season in brilliant fashion, but a five-game stint on the road looms as a major period in the team's campaign.
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The Miners made it two wins from as many matches by beating rivals Bendigo last Saturday night and are now preparing for a trip to take on Dandenong.
After the break for Easter, Ballarat then has away fixtures against Knox (April 27), Albury Wodonga (May 4), Kilsyth (May 11) and Eltham (May 12). The Miners are finally back on their home court on May 18 when they take on the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence outfit.
Miners coach Brendan Joyce spoke about the importance being placed on his side's performances away from home in 2019.
"It's always tough to win on the road, but we are actually setting ourselves a challenge and priding ourselves on having the ability to win on the road," Joyce told The Courier at Monday's press conference.
"That's what I've always challenged my teams, throughout any competition, to do.
"If you can win on the road then there's a good chance you are going to make the play-offs and do well."
Joyce said he expected a difficult encounter against a Dandenong outfit that has won two of its first three games this year.
"Dandenong has always been a really tough team to beat down there and they are very well coached as well," Joyce said.
"They've got off to a pretty good start.
"But the focus is more on us, trying to improve so we can play consistent basketball for four quarters."
Joyce also spoke about the Ballarat Rush side, which also has a tough run of five-straight away matches.
The Ballarat women have been beaten in both their opening two games and sit last on the NBL1 table.
"You want to play the good teams early because I think that establishes you need to improve quickly and what you need to bring to the table," Joyce said.
"There's going to be wins coming for the Rush girls. I've been pretty impressed with them, they've probably had the unfortunate situation where they've matched up against two of the better teams in the league.
"But they've held themselves in good account so what they've got to do is stay together, keep working together and they'll get across the line soon."
Ballarat Basketball said it had 1700 spectators at the Minerdome on Saturday night.