Men's Basketball Preseason Report No. 3
10/24/2007 4:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. --- As he reaches the end of the second week of preseason practice, Georgia Southern men’s basketball coach Jeff Price is searching for consistency in his team.
Price and the Eagles continue to work towards their season opener Nov. 12 at Florida State.
“I think we have to be more consistent in our practices,” said Price. “Which I guess this time of the year that’s what everybody’s striving for. Our returning guys understand our level of intensity and we have to get our new guys on the same page and understand how hard you have to play every single day. Right now we’re looking at consistency and effort more than anything.”
After working almost exclusively on offense during individual workouts, Price has been impressed with the progress on the defensive end.
“We’ve picked up on our defense pretty good, having not spent hardly anytime in the preseason with it because we wanted to get better offensively. I’ve been fairly pleased with how we’ve been defending after only working on our team defense [since practice started]. Our defense is coming along pretty good for the amount of time that we’ve spent on it versus the time we’ve spent on our offense.”
SHOOTING STARS
With the graduation of Donte Gennie, the Eagles lack experience at the shooting guard. The team not only misses his 16.2 points per game average from last season, but the 82 3-pointers that went with it, expanding the defense to the arc. Gennie accounted for 82 of GSU’s 152 3-pointers or 53.9 percent of the team’s total. Senior Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) had exactly half of Gennie’s number and the only other player with more than 13.
“We just don’t have an experienced player at that position right now,” said Price. “That’s still a work in progress.”
While Georgia Southern lacks a true No. 2 guard, it has a number of players that can fill in at that spot. Sophomores Antoine Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) and Johntavius Rucker (Decatur, Ga.) have spent time at both positions, as well as freshman Willie Powers (Gainesville, Fla.) and junior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.).
“Dwayne has missed four straight practices with a hamstring [problem], so it’s allowed Willie and A.J. (Johnson) to both to play at the point. Which, in a sense, is good because one of them is going to have to play the backup. So it was a good experience for them to play out there. As soon as we get Dwayne back, we just have to find the right person for that two-spot ? not just to start, but for a couple of guys to play. Willie and A.J. can play over there, Johntavius Rucker’s playing over there, and Julian Allen if we want to go big. I guess we’re still uncertain and in search at that position.”
Foreman is expected to be at full strength by the end of the week.
