One bright spark in an otherwise disappointing BBL Trophy campaign this month has been the form of Bennett Koch, the 6ft 10in centre from Wisconsin who has proven his prowess at both ends of the court by recording successive double-doubles, the statistical achievement of making at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in a game. But Lyons admits Koch cannot do it all on his own.

Marcus Delpeche who usually comes on to give starter Koch a breather is still nursing a foot injury back to full health, and the club last week released former British Basketball League champion Jubril Adekoya due to a persistent foot injury. It has left a roster that at one point looked stocked at 12 players, suddenly lighter at 10.

“Bennett is battling for us, getting banged up but playing hard, and he needs some help,” said Lyons.

Sheffield Sharks head coach Atiba Lyons is heading back into the player market (Picture: Tony Johnson)

“We’re looking for a replacement, we need more size, we’ve been a bit light for a while now with Jubril being out and Marcus still trying to get to where he was after his injury.

“We’ve been a bit light there but we’ll make some adjustments and improve that.”

Any replacements might come too soon for this weekend’s double-header in which Sharks need to defeat Plymouth City Patriots at the Canon Medical Arena on Saturday and Cheshire Phoenix on Sunday to have any chance of progressing to finals weekend.

The BBL Trophy dominates the whole of January with its quickfire four-game group stage leading into the semi-final and final in Birmingham on the weekend of January 27/28.

Sheffield Sharks' Bennett Koch has recorded a double-double in the last two games but 'needs some help' says Atiba Lyons (Picture: Tony Johnson)

A bad time then to hit a sticky patch, which is exactly what Sharks have done in losing to Surrey Scorchers at the start of the month, and Caledonia Gladiators last Thursday night on their home floor.

“Not ideal, it’s been a tough couple of games, difficult for different reasons,” reflected Lyons.

“We haven’t been ourselves in either or given ourselves the best chance the way we’ve started games.

“We are depleted a bit now with injuries, so it’s pretty tough, but I think we’ll get through the other side of it.”

On both occasions, Sharks were guilty of starting slowly and leaving themselves too much to do.

“We’re just not getting going quick enough, teams are coming out and having the best of us especially the last couple, which is not typical of how we’ve been playing this season,” admitted Lyons, pictured.

“We’ve got to get back to how we’re playing, but the competition is getting harder, teams are getting better each day and we’ve got to make sure we don’t get complacent.”

So how does he instill a fire in his team’s belly from the first tip-off?

“It’s maybe some tweaks and adjustments here and there to line-ups, different actions we can run on offence,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s just focusing guys in.

“There’s been injuries which have led to different guys playing longer minutes than they’re used to playing. But we’ve still got to get the job done.”

Sheffield Sharks in market for a big man to kickstart British Basketball League season