As the men’s basketball team finished up the remainder of their fall schedule, they took time to reflect on some of their triumphs and pitfalls thus far in the season.
The team came into the season with 15 returning players and freshmen acquisitions. The team has been focused on making a comeback from the offseason by focusing on improving physically.
Third-year head coach Donald Reyes mentioned that although they have had some bumps in the road with minor injuries, it has given younger players the opportunity to step up in games against Division 1 competition.
“It’s been a rough start, to be honest, we’ve been banged up quite a bit and a lot of guys have had some nagging injuries which have kind of prohibited our success early on,” Reyes said.
The Wolf Pack (3-7) have faced multiple Division 1 teams early in the season: Southeastern Louisiana University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi.
“We’ve had one of the toughest schedules in the country,” Reyes said. “We’ve played I want to say five, top 25 teams in the country (in the NAIA), if not, a combined total of seven who were receiving votes. So, we’ve been in very close games on the road, truthfully, throughout our preseason.”
Their last few games of the season were against Florida Memorial, Southeastern (Fla.), and Dillard University, where they took home two wins and a loss against Florida Memorial.
Reyes mentioned that they were in the lead for the beginning half of the game against Florida Memorial, however, they lost control of the game towards the end.
“They kind of jumped on us, so we kind of lost our poise to the extent, but we were resilient, we bounced back like I knew we would against Southeastern,” Reyes said.
When the Pack traveled to Panama City to face Southeastern University, they won, and although they won the game, lessons were learned about their physical health and mindset, and they are ready to apply them to their next games.
“So that’s the thing that we have to kind of hang our hat on knowing that we’ve already seen the best, so we gotta be prepared for that moment and get healthy,” said Reyes.
Redshirt junior shooting guard Leonard Jackson III discussed the team atmosphere during games, stating that their chemistry off the court is displayed when they are on the court.
“It’s a positive environment, everyone talks to each other,” Jackson said. “We’re always with each other, like literally, right after practice, we all go eat together and those types of times that we have together are kind of important.”
He says the time they spend off the court together really shows when they are on the court.
Graduate student guard Milan Meija mentioned that the team has been good with closing their games with a win. He pointed out their win against Southeastern University (Fla.) as one of their biggest highlights.
“I think that was huge for us as a group, just for our team’s morale,” Meija said.
He discussed their future games and how using what they have learned this season and maintaining their confidence and skills will help them in the long run.
“We need to hit these games running and build up a good confidence in our team and our group to just go into the tournament that will put us in a good position to succeed,” Mejia said.
They end the fall season with games against Keiser University (Fla.), Thomas University (Ga.), and Southeastern Louisiana.
