Through three games the Falcons are 2-1 with wins over Illinois-Chicago and the Braves of Bradley. While just about everyone has played well, senior Josh Almanson has contributed more than his fair share.
With 56 points, (17 at DePaul, 17 against UIC, 22 against Bradley) Almanson leads the team in scoring at 18.7 points per game and also leads the squad in rebounding with 18 (6.0 rpg).
Last year, Almanson averaged a career-high 8.0 points per game and it took seven contests for him to surpass his current point total.
Two seasons ago, Almanson received a medical hardship from the NCAA after undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot and appeared in just six games. Now in his fifth season as a Falcon, the Bowling Green native is performing like an all-MAC selection. Almanson has overcome injuries, lack of practice time and has regained the explosiveness exhibited before the fracture.
For his efforts, Josh was named MAC West Player of the Week yesterday. Below are some thoughts from Josh as well as Coach Dakich and Coach Pepelea.
Coach Dan Dakich on Almanson…
“He has taken the parameters that we’ve given him and understands what he is about. He knows what’s good and he knows what is bad. And Josh has always done the work and not just on the court but in the weightroom. He knows his body very well, what he eats and stuff like that. He takes his basketball very seriously.”
Josh Almanson…
What is your assessment of the team as a whole thus far?
“We’ve been able to overcome mistakes. We still turn the ball over just as much last year in terms of numbers but we’ve made more plays to make up for it. Hustle plays on defense, getting extra shots on offense. We’ve played hard enough to overcome things and eventually we would like to correct the mistakes and play hard as well.”
Assitant coach Artie Pepelea on the progress this season …
“I think this year so far we’ve played hard enough to compete and I think we’ve made a lot of basketball mistakes that need to improve for us to have a good team and a good year. But by having hustle plays we’ve been able to overcome some of our mistakes because we’ve played hard, hustled, came up with loose balls and made people miss shots just based on hustle and hard play to this point. And I think for our ball club to get better everyday we’ve got to improve on the smaller things and do more things right.”
