The Falcons men’s basketball team will play in their lone exhibition game of the season against the Capital Crusaders on Thursday night.
Despite it being a preseason contest, the team is still putting a lot of emphasis on it to set the tone for the rest of the season, as well as to get a better look at their players.
“It’s very big,” Falcons head coach Michael Huger said. “Preseason games give us a chance to see what we really have. It doesn’t matter what’s your opponent; it’s what you do and the performance and the things that I’m looking for in my team.”
The team struggled last season, going 7-11 in Mid-American Conference play and missing the playoffs; however, the team is confident in the freshman players that they have coming onto the team for this season.
“I think we’re coming along very nicely at this stage,” Huger said. “The freshmen are coming along very nicely, developing, learning the system. Learning the defense has been the biggest thing that they have to get adjusted to as freshmen.”
However, the team was very impressed with the effort and selflessness the freshmen showed in the weeks before the season.
“All of them were the best player on the team,” Huger said. “Now you’re coming into a situation where a whole team was pretty much their best player and now you have to get them to play as one. That’s the thing that they adjusted to the best, I thought, was sharing the ball. They didn’t have a problem with sharing the ball and being a good teammate. Playing defensively is always the toughest thing for freshmen; physicality, first of all they’re not strong enough coming in, so they worked really hard. (Assistant coach) Kenny Gilchrist did a great job with them over the summer.”
The team also has specific areas of their game that they want to make sure to get a good look at in Thursday’s game.
“I want to see how our defense looks first and foremost, and I want to see how well we can share the ball under the lights,” Huger said. “Those are the biggest things and that prepares you for the next opponent, and it also lets you go back to work on the things that you thought were good when you watch it or at practice and the things that aren’t so good when you actually see them play.”
The team also feels that they are building a strong bond going into the start of the season.
“We’re gelling and meshing together at the right time,” Huger said. “Now I think we’re ready for that outside competition. A couple of weeks ago, I don’t think we were quite ready for that outside competition, but right now they’re itching to go, so I can’t wait, I’m excited for the start of the season.”
