Fired up Boomer Will Hickey ready to take on whole of China in Asia Cup final

Hickey, who many feel should have been grand final MVP — including winner Matthew Dellavedova — for his stunning performance in Illawarra’s NBL championship run, said the Boomers are ready to douse the dreams of 1.4 billion Chinese in Monday morning’s Asia Cup final.

“I’m putting a target on all of them, I’ll put it on all of China if I need to — I’m here to win a basketball game and if you’re in my way, it is what it is,” Hickey laughed, speaking to CODE Sports from Jeddah.

“They’re very physical but we know what we’re in for — they’re going to come out and play hard.

“They like to move the ball and get up and down, but we’ll just focus on ourselves.”

Hickey carried his dynamic NBL form into the Boomers’ crushing victory over Iran in the early hours of Sunday morning. On triple-double watch at halftime, he finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists — and FIBA’s player of the game honour.

“I feel like we all were fired up, especially once we got going, on the defensive end, we wanted to come out and prove a point,” he said.

Prove a point, they did — much of it at the expense of tiny 175cm Iranian guard Mobin Sheikhi — doubling Iran’s score halfway through the third before cruising to a 92-48 romp to book their place in the tournament decider.

Hickey — almost 20cm taller at 194cm — overpowered Sheikhi on the offensive end, and, whether it was he or fellow defensive dynamo Owen Foxwell, they smelled blood every time the little man had the ball.

And they’re prepared to do it all again, up against China’s superior back-court, led by captain Rui Zhao, who condemned New Zealand to a bronze medal playoff and robbed us of an all-Anzac match up in the final when he poured in 24 points and dished out 6 assists in a 98-84 win over the Kiwis.

“There’s a pressure I feel like we all bring (defensively) but it makes it easier when you’ve got guys like (captain Wil) Magnay and Jack White behind you,” he said.

“You can get up-and-in and not worry about getting blown by because if you do it’s like ‘I’ve got help, anyway’.”

China has not been to an Asia Cup final in a decade. The last time China did make it, it won the 2015 gold.

But it will have to contend with a Boomers’ team that has yet to face a serious challenge after it easily swept aside Iran in Sunday morning’s semi-final.

The year of Hickey continues to get better and he’s relished the opportunity to don the Aussie jersey at a big tournament.

“It’s been really good, it’s a great group of boys, I am just grateful to be able to do this and it’s been so awesome to represent my country,” he said.

“It’s an experience I’ll take home and cherish.”

Hickey said thoughts of gold were difficult to block out but the veterans in the Boomers’ group were adept at keeping the squad level headed.

“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t think about it (winning gold) but, if you fixate on it too much, that’s when it can get a bit dangerous and you can start to get a bit comfortable,” Hickey said.

“The older boys like Mags (captain Will Magnay) and Xav (Xavier Cooks) do a good job keeping us grounded.

“It’s not something we can take for granted so we just have to make sure we come out and we’re all locked in.”