For the men’s basketball team, the month of January has been a chance to get back to their winning ways. As of Jan. 22, the team has won four out of the previous six games dating back to a Jan. 4 road loss to Triton College.
With an overall record of 9-9, the WolfPack hope to extend its streak of wins to three in a row to gain a winning record.
Recently, after a Jan. 15 loss against the Joliet Junior College Wolves, coach Scot Vesterdahl explained the importance of working on fundamentals and getting back to playing winning basketball.
“We have to get back in transition, take care of the ball, and not commit turnovers,” Vesterdahl said.
In the 93-67 loss, the team struggled to get down the court off the fast break. This resulted in the opposing team capitalizing on the opportunities they had. Joliet led for the entire game and at one point in the second half opened the lead to 32 points.
Vesterdahl knew coming into the game that it would be a challenging match-up. Joliet won the national title in 2010. The WolfPack turned the ball over 14 times, which led to 23 points for the Wolves.
“When you play a team like that we have to not turn the ball over. We just came out a bit heavy legged,” Vesterdahl said.
Although the team lost the game, coaches and players look to hard work and practice to overcome issues on the court.
“We just have to get back to work and focus on the game,” said Garrett Borgrud, WolfPack center.
Borgrud finished the game with eight points and six rebounds. He explained that working on boxing out the opponents in the paint and getting back in transition were key to the team’s success.
Just three days after that loss, the WolfPack bounced back with a 78-70 road win against Harper College in Palatine, Ill. Two days after that, the team extended it’s winning streak to two in a row with a 94-78 win at home against Western Technical College.
With two wins going into the Jan. 22 road contest against College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., the WolfPack will try to keep the momentum going in the right direction.