Game Preview: Taipans v United

The Taipans will march into the tie as underdogs, but that hasn’t stopped the home side snatching an upset in front of the Orange Army before. The Snakes led by import trio Admiral Schofield, Marcus Lee and Andrew Andrews are ready to unleash ahead of the club’s 2025-26 Indigenous Round fixture.

Where and When

Friday, 24 October at the Cairns Convention Centre (6:30pm AEST)

How to Follow

Watch: Live on ESPN

Live Updates: Taipans X

Stats: Box Score

What’s Already Happened

Recent Results

Cairns Taipans (78) v Perth Wildcats (110)
Melbourne United (104) v New Zealand Breakers (88)

The Kenfrost Homes Cairns Taipans couldn’t overcome a red-hot Perth Wildcats outfit on Wednesday night, going down despite a milestone night for Kyle Adnam, who played his 250th NBL game.

Sharpshooter Reyne Smith was impressive throughout, posting 13 points and five assists, while import forward Schofield was the sides leading scorer with 16 points and five rebounds.

Adnam marked his milestone with 10 points and three assists with Forde deploying a double point guard line-up at times with Andrews to limit turnovers against a high-pressing Wildcats side.

In the Round 5 fixture against Melbourne, United duo Chris Goulding and Jesse Edwards each tallied 16 points to lead the Victorian team to a 85-60 victory, while 12 of 13 United players to hit the court scored. Slasher Alex Higgins-Titsha scored a career-high 16 points in the fixture. 

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde is 3-1 against Melbourne in Cairns since the 2022-23 season, while Cairns have held Melbourne to an average of 80.2 points at the Convention Centre since the United rebrand - the lowest average across the Taipans’ history.

Player to Watch

Cairns local Kody Stattmann provided spark off the bench during Wednesday night's clash with a season-high 10 points. The 202cm guard has the ability to shoot from range and create his own shoot, with his offensive threat key in the absence of scoring weapons Jack McVeigh and Sam Waardenburg.

After three appearances in the 2024-25 season as a development player, the 25-year old has already racked up eight appearances this season after a strong off-season campaign with the Cairns Marlins. 

Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde

"It was always going to be a tough stretch with our marquee two locals out.

"We have some guys playing out of position and shouldering more of the load than we originally anticipated. That’s not changing anytime soon. This is something we need to fix.

"It is unusual — we have a close game against Adelaide and now a blowout against Perth when we had a close game against them last time. It’s a roll of the dice at the moment, and we just need everyone to play not perfect basketball, but to their averages and their potential. But when we have two or three players having a rough trot at it, it shows immediately and you get a result like tonight.”

The Lineups

Taipans

PG – Andrew Andrews / Kyle Adnam / Lachlan Barker

SG – Reyne Smith / Kody Stattmann / Lloyd McVeigh

SF – Alex Higgins-Titsha / Mawot Mag

PF – Admiral Schofield 

C – Kyrin Galloway / Marcus Lee / Jed Richardson

United

PG – Tyson Walker / Campbell Blogg

SG – Milton Doyle / Dash Daniels / Tom Wilson

SF – Chris Goulding / Tanner Krebs / Malith Machar

PF – Finn Delany / Kyle Bowen / Tom Koppens

C – Jesse Edwards / Fabijan Krslovic

Ins and Outs

Taipans

Ins – Lachlan Barker, Lloyd McVeigh, Jed Richardson

Outs – Sam Waardenburg (ankle), Jack McVeigh (wrist)

United

Ins and Outs – N/A