Coming off a loss is always tough. Luckily, like coach Cooper always says “In basketball, you don’t have to wait for more than a week to get another chance.” This is true because today we get the opportunity to play the University of Alaska Anchorage on our home court and get back on the right track.

Earlier in the year, in January, we made our annual trip up north to play both of the Alaska schools. When we got out of the airport it was negative 17 degrees in Fairbanks, which was absolutely freezing. Thankfully when we got to Anchorage a few days later it was much warmer. But, the cold wasn’t the worst part of the trip; the losses were. We left Alaska empty handed which was really frustrating. So this time around we are looking for a little revenge.

This week in practice was like most weeks we have. We take what we did either the week before or against a team prior and change what we need to in order to be successful. Of course I can’t tell you everything we worked on because we want to keep some of our tricks in the bag, but I will give you a little insight.

Anchorage is without a doubt a good team. They are very balanced and have a number of guys on any given night that can make a difference. It doesn’t matter whether they start or come off the bench; they are all capable of having big nights to help their team win. The Seawolves are one of the top teams in the nation in three point percentage and are very good at getting their shooters open looks in places they are comfortable. We made it a point of emphasis all week that in order to be successful on Thursday night we would have to limit their shots from beyond the arc.

Normally when we play Anchorage, the game is a grind it out battle with a lot of contact and aggressive play. We know this; they know this. We talked about it during the week how we need to be strong with the ball and be crisp in order to limit our turnovers so we don’t give them any easy transition opportunities. The last time we played the Seawolves they outrebounded us by eight, which gave them numerous second chances because 18 of those rebounds were on the offensive end. As a team we also addressed this as an area of focus by trying to work on our box outs and rebounding techniques.

Other parts of the game that we discussed as a team included trying to play the game at our pace and working on our execution; both offensively and defensively. One of our biggest strengths as a team is our dedication to knowing who is going to be where and when. Collectively, we dialed into our concepts to make sure that we were all on the same page so we wouldn’t have any lapses.

Along with the men having two big games this week, so do the women. On both Thursday and Saturday nights, the women play before us with games against Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University. As well as having four basketball games on campus this week, it is also homecoming. On Saturday, the athletic department will be honoring new members into its hall of fame for their efforts and achievements.

With such a big week athletically, I hope to see a lot of fans and students out their supporting both Saints squads as we look to pick up some wins and get back into this conference race.

#Saintsalive

#Homecoming2013