Gareth Murray has told Glasgow Rocks misfiring squad to start hitting the target – or face being written out of the British Basketball League title race before the first month of the season is over.

Tony Garbelotto’s men visit Cheshire Phoenix tomorrow with pressure on the Scots to show signs of progress following two defeats from two games so far.

But with the Rocks conceding an average of over 100 points per game to date, Murray admits radical improvements are needed.

“For me it’s about playing defence in this league,” the Great Britain forward said. “If you don’t do that, you can’t out-gun people. Leicester pride themselves on and they’re champions. Newcastle might be a scoring team but they work so much on their defence. If we want to be one of the top teams in this league, we need to lock in on that.”

With Garbelotto set to make a decision next week on the future of Earl Brown beyond his initial one-month trial, there will also be scrutiny over the performances of fellow American imports Jalen Billups and Martez Harrison with neither living up to the hype that surrounded their arrivals in the summer. With the Rocks coach branding his team "soft" for their efforts so far, the two rookies will be asked to step up a notch to boost Glasgow’s cause.

“People are working hard,” Murray declared. “It does sometimes come down to locking up the person in front of you. It’s abiding by the principles and being in sync. That does take time but if you are going to be a professional basketball player – whether you’re a rookie or its your tenth year – you have to buy into what everyone is trying to do.

“But I don’t believe the first win is a big deal. Obviously if you lose three or four in a row at the start, you begin to lose confidence. You start to find problems. I don’t think it’s going to be just about getting that first win. It’s about us playing well.”