3 games in 3 days on the road... This is what college basketball is all about! Going into the trip our TEAM discussed how valuable and memorable road trips are when preparing body/mind for the common physiological/psychological strains of an intense season. With that being said, traveling in a van as a TEAM through poor weather and staying in the hotel together are all a part of an experience that creates life-long memories past student-athletes continue to discuss when their career has ended with teammates. WE relayed a message to embrace the moment, play in the present, and empty the tank as Nov 9-11 will never be returned to your or this TEAM.
WE began the invitational competing against Jamestown JV, which turned out to be a slug-fest with the Lumberjacks edging out the victory 80-72 in OT. Our TEAM was faced with a 15 point deficit midway through the second half and the coaching staff just was not sure how this young group of men would react. The guys pulled together and began to fight possession by possession with Jayden McMillin leading the charge finishing with 30 points. We played fast and we played hard with the final factor being are willingness to push the ball late in the game, and score easy baskets down the stretch. It was great to see our backs against the wall early in the year.
Game 2 brought about a whole new challenge because Miles City CC is considered a more "common" JUCO opponent. They have a variety of athletes on the perimeter balanced by several shooting threats with an interior play we had yet to see in our 1st three competitions. Although the score did not go our way (87-69) it was by far our best learning experience up to this point. When we did not execute defensive strategies Miles City took advantage. Offensively Miles City was able to force us into half-court execution, which has clearly been identified as an area of improvement for our TEAM. Following the game we came together and discussed how transfer learning is necessary if we would like to be successful against more talented opponents.
FINALLY... The last game of the invitational placed the Jacks against Lake Region Alumni. We have discussed playing faster and more aggressive on both ends of the floor. WE managed to put up 100 points (42 in transition), along with creating 20 turnovers through ball pressure and deflections resulting in fast break points. Defensively our guys moved on the flight of the ball more passionately as we began to see the benefits of dictating penetration to an area we can recover. Through our 5 games the coaching staff was pleased to see us play our best basketball thus far on the third day of competition. I guess that either means we are in decent shape OR we just didn't play as hard as we should the first two games. Either way, the TEAM seems like it began to connect what we work on with how we should compete.
Over the weekend several players had bright moments but Jayden McMillin was our anchor without a doubt averaging 27 points and 10 reb. Freshman Kristoff Walker once again had flashes of extremely good play by netting 20 plus points on two different occasions while dishing out 8 assists against Lake Region Alumni. Sophmore Tyler Storseth also began to find the speed of the game as he started to heat up going 8-12 from the arc the final two games. Probably the player who seems to understand how hard you have to play to be successful continues to be sophmore Ben Veith as he displays the intensity our TEAM expects on a nightly basis.
GET TO THE WOODSHED on Nov. 15th! We host Dawson Community College at 8pm with the Ladyjacks tipping off at 6pm. Let's provide a great atmosphere and protect our home court.
Get Jacked Up!
