Coyotes remain undefeated in Summit League play
A 5-9 record through the first 14 games wasn’t the record men’s basketball interim head coach Joey James had envisioned for non-conference play to begin the season. One way to ease the pain of a tough non-conference record is to start conference play on the right note, and that’s just what the Coyotes have done.
After upsetting the University of Denver Jan. 11 59-54, the team moved to 2-0 in the Summit League Thursday night by defeating the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars 69-57.
Senior center Trevor Gruis, who finished with 18 points and six rebounds, said the team decided to look at conference play as a whole new season.
“Conference play is a whole new animal and you can throw records out the window once it starts,” Gruis said. “Now we’ve put ourselves in a great place to play for first place in the conference on Saturday.”
The Coyotes got it done two different ways Thursday night. The first half was all about the ‘Yotes’ hot shooting, going 5 for 11 from downtown in the first half.
The second half was all about defense. The Jaguars shot 50 percent from the field in the opening half, but were limited to just 29 percent shooting for the rest of the game.
“I thought the biggest thing in this game was that in the second half our team was incredibly good on the defensive end,” James said. “Our adjustment was that we knew we weren’t going to win if we allowed them to shoot 50 percent. We’re a better basketball team than that.”
The catalyst on the offensive side of the ball was junior guard Brandon Bos, who scored 21 points on 7-12 shooting. James said he was happy to see his team cut down on the turnovers, committing only eight on the night compared to normally hovering around 16 or 17 a night.
Sophomore forward Tyler Flack said the team has a lot of heart, and even though the play earlier in the season was discouraging, no one put their heads down.
“When we had a couple losses in a row, it kind of hurt out mentality a little bit,” Flack said. “I think everyone is on the right page now after these two (conference) wins.”
Potentially the biggest two points of the game came off a Flack put-back layup with just over two minutes remaining. Flack finished with eight points and seven rebounds, including a few high-flying dunks. Flack said the dunks never get old, but the rebounds are something that make him proud to see.
“Rebounding has been a big focus of mine because it’s something I can control every possession,” Flack said. “I just try to work my butt off and get every rebound.”
James continued using senior forward Karim Rowson in the starting lineup over sophomore guard Adam Thoseby Thursday night. Rowson played a big role in limiting Jaguars’ guard Ian Chiles to 2-10 shooting and only seven points.
“He had the length and size advantage and didn’t allow (Chiles) to drive against him,” James said.
James said the rotation is always adjusted based off match-ups, but when the team is on a four-game winning streak, there isn’t much tweaking to do.
“Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken,” James said.
The Coyotes’ next game is another home game Saturday against Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
