2008 Woodie Awards
Mules move onward during break
Brad Seiner
Issue date: 12/8/05 Section: Sports
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As students go home for the holidays, the Mules (7-1) will keep their eyes focused on gaining confidence and picking up important victories. The MIAA portion of the Mules' schedule opens Saturday.
The Mules will travel to Las Vegas to take part in the Las Vegas High Desert Classic. They will take on Eastern New Mexico Dec. 16 and Rollins (Fla.) College Dec. 18.
After the Classic, the Mules head back to the Multipurpose Building to play Southwestern Oklahoma State Dec. 22, Northwest Missouri State New Year's Eve and Truman State Jan. 4. The Mules will also host Livin' the Dream in an exhibition game Dec. 28 and end the stretch on the road against Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo., Jan. 7 before heading to Bolivar.
"The way Division II is, every game is important, but it's still early in the season and I don't think any one game is going to make or break you," said Mules' head coach Kim Anderson.
"We're not a finished product," he said. "We still have a lot of things to work on. We've got some new things to add. We're still putting it together."
The Mules are coming off their first loss of the season 79-77 against St. Edward's in Austin, Texas, Monday. Before the game, the Mules defeated Lincoln 74-57 Nov. 30 in the Multi and won their first road game of the year 79-52 against St. Mary's in San Antonio, Texas, last Saturday.
Mules' senior guard Michael Hicks led the Mules with 25 points against Lincoln with five three pointers. Junior center Alonzo Brooks came up with the Mules' first double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds and senior forward David Hilliard added 13 points in the win.
Hicks led three Mules' in double figures against St. Mary's with 16 points. Junior guard Wadale Williams and Brooks added 11 and 10 respectively.
Anderson was pleased with the teams performance against St. Mary's. He said the team bounced back after a slow start to take care of business against a tough team on the road.
"At the beginning of the game, we played a little tentatively," Anderson said. "Then in the second half we came out and applied a lot of pressure defensively.
"It was one of the better defensive halves I've seen since I've been here. We forced turnovers, we forced bad shots for them and we converted on the other end."
Knocked off
But travel and pressure may have caught up with the Mules as they made their way to Austin to take on St. Edward's, a team the Mules defeated a year ago 92-62.
Anderson didn't want to blame the travel for the loss, but said it could have had something to do with it.
"Traveling, I think we had a little bit of fatigue," Anderson said. "That's not really any excuse, but I thought St. Edward's pressured us a lot and we didn't have that same energy level especially toward the end of the game.
"We handled [the pressure] fairly well, but in a game like that, you're going to have some runs, and in the second half they had a big run. I think we improved, but it's always disappointing when you don't come out with a victory."
The Mules were led by Hicks' and Brooks' 16 points. Senior guard Corey Brown added 12 in the losing effort.
'Big' presence
Heading into the season, the Mules knew their leadership would come from guards like Hicks and Corey Brown. In order for the team to get to where it needs to be, the big men had to step up. So far they have.
Junior forward Darryl Sommerset started the season strong down low. With the emergence of Brooks and junior forward Andrae Brown, the Mules have a presence under the basket. This gives the opposition more to focus on and will relieve pressure on the guards.
"I think Alonzo has improved tremendously since he walked on campus," Anderson said. "He and Andrae Brown have given us very good minutes in the post-position. What they've done best is they've played within their abilities. They haven't tried to do anything they can't do.
"They've gotten good shots around the basket. They're defense has improved. They've still got a ways to go, but they've gotten so much better."
Leadership role
Hicks has picked up his play and has become a leader for the Mules and Anderson said it will be important for him to continue to improve. Hicks is averaging more than 17 points a game and is hitting almost 40 percent (22-56) of his 3-pointers.
"Mike has [taken good shots] for the most part," Anderson said. "The thing we've worked with him on is trying to get good shots all the time and understanding that he's going to be pressured. Teams are going to really get after him. He's going to have to work that much harder to get shots.
"That's what we're working with everybody; to take good shots all the time. We're still a work in progress. We've got to keep working at it."
As the holiday season nears and classes let out for the semester, the Mules are looking to improve in all aspects of the game. The team began the season running the court and making shots offensively, but defensively it struggled at times.
Now the Mules have found a groove defensively and have the ability to add that to the potent offense they possess. For them to continue to win, they will have to build off their early success.
"We've got to have the focus, not only physically but mentally," Anderson said. "Sometimes that's difficult with school and finals because that's the most important thing.
"Hopefully after finals, we'll have some practice time and we can put some stuff in and get ready for the first of the year."