McNeese looking to bounce back vs. University of Mobile
As the McNeese men’s basketball team practiced on Monday afternoon, the scoreboards around the Health and Human Performance Complex still read the final score from the Cowboys’ loss on Friday.
The day before that, when the Cowboys practiced for the first time since losing to Loyola-New Orleans on Nov. 16, they practiced at Memorial Gym.
Their score could have easily been wiped clean and the team could have just as easily practiced in the H&HP Complex, whether on the main court or in the practice gym. But head coach Heath Schroyer wanted to prove a point.
"I wanted that to be there the first time they came in here," Schroyer said of the score still being up in the H&HP Complex. "We actually practiced in Memorial Gym yesterday. I just didn’t think they deserved to come back into a facility like this."
Schroyer did say that he believes the team has had two good days of practice since Friday’s game and being off on Saturday. The Cowboys will host the University of Mobile out of the NAIA on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
The Rams have a 2-1 regular season record, the most recent result being a 74-73 loss on the road against Spring Hill College. In their exhibition game against the Division I Southern University, Mobile only lost 78-74.
"I think they’re well-coached," Schroyer said of Mobile. "Their bigs are not the tallest, but they’re active. They’re aggressive, they’re really skilled. I think their guard play is really good too because they can shoot it. And they run really good stuff."
Schroyer does not think that his team looked past Loyola-New Orleans because they are an NAIA team. Not with the next two opponents being NAIA and Division II (Mississippi College) schools.
"No matter who we play, we better be at the top of our game," Schroyer said. "We’re not good enough to not play really well and win."
The Cowboys got some good individual performances against Loyola-New Orleans. Sophomore guard Kevin Hunt scored a team-high 19 points against the Pack, but also committed a team-high eight turnovers. Hunt has led the team in scoring two out of McNeese’s first three games.
While he has done well to score for the Cowboys, Hunt acknowledges that he needs to take better care of the ball. So far this season,
"It was me more not being aggressive," Hunt said of his turnover issues. "I was just playing with the ball, I was being careless. So it was all on me. But I give credit to (Loyola) you know, it’s a good team. But at the same time it was just me being careless with the ball."
Hunt said that the key to cutting his turnovers down is being more aggressive and just taking what opposing defenses give him.
Going into Tuesday’s game, Schroyer wants his team to play more like the team that went on the road and lost at St. Mary’s and Arizona State than the one that played against Loyola-New Orleans, despite the margins of loss on the road being bigger.
"I do know that the team that traveled to Arizona State and St. Mary’s with wasn’t the team that played here," Schroyer said. "We worked really hard and long the last two days to get guys to understand that that’s unacceptable."