Eighth-placed Wollongong slipped to 4-5 with Sunday's road loss to Sydney and will be a third of the way through their 30-game campaign after tonight.

The Taipans (5-3) beat New Zealand at home last Wednesday before being thrashed 94-65 by the South Dragons on Saturday.

Given they are still adapting to life without leading scorer Stephen Black (back injury), the visitors might be vulnerable against the Hawks, who are 4-1 on their home court.

Former Denver Nuggets guard Mee, who will turn 38 in February, has enjoyed a magnificent NBL career.

He won titles with Adelaide in 1998 and '99 and has averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.2 steals over 11 seasons, two of which he spent with Wollongong.

But the Hawks are hoping the years are catching up to the mercurial Mee, particularly with Black sidelined.

"They've got some older guys in Darnell (Mee) who are expected to play a lot of minutes, and we want to get up and down the court on them," Cooks said.

"He was averaging around 35 minutes with Black playing, and without Stephen I imagine they're going to rely on him to play even more minutes, so it's important that we keep pressure on him and make him work."

Cairns are scoring 93 points per night and conceding 94, while the Hawks are averaging 94 and giving up 99 per game.

Both teams are making 43 per cent of their shots each game and averaging 47 rebounds. They also turn over possession an identical 16 times per night.

Coming off last Sunday's road loss to Sydney, the Hawks can break even with a 5-5 record by upstaging the Taipans.

"If we would've said at the start of the year that we'd be 5-5 after 10 games, we probably would've been pretty happy," Cooks said.

"We think we probably should've won that Sydney game and be a little higher on the ladder, but it's important that we stay on an even keel. We don't get too excited when we win games and don't get too down when we lose games.

"We had some guys who didn't shoot the ball well, but we have to be more disciplined in what we do and have faith in each other. Whether we're up 15 or down 15, we can't play any different. When we get down we really go hard."

The Hawks will face the Taipans again in Cairns on Saturday night.