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Printer-Friendly ModeTeam chemistry ignites 2-0 start
November 19, 2007 —
The men's basketball team may have only known each other for eight weeks, but that didn't stop them from coming together to win their first two games of the season.
"I've been on teams for two years, and a high school team for two or three years," senior point guard Mario Mackey said. "But in eight weeks this is the closest team I've ever been on."
SVSU went into Thursday's Davenport game with only one returning starter, junior guard Lawrence Ross, but pulled together for an 84-74 victory. The Cards then turned aside St. Joesph's in a convincing 88-65 win on Saturday. Ross has so far lead the team in scoring with 22 points per game, but he's received some help in the season's early going.
Mackey, who is averaging 16 points per game, including a 21 point effort in Saturday's victory, is leading the team in minutes, not having sat at any point this season. So far, he's been able to keep his team in games by not turning the ball over - averaging only three per game - and by coming up with big baskets at key points in the game, including a buzzer beating three pointer at the end of the half on Saturday, to pull the Cards back within four.
"As the point guard, you've got to lead the team," Mackey said. "Whenever you're team needs a bucket you've got to get it, whether it's me, or I set someone else up."
"The most important thing to any basketball program is a good point guard," head coach Frankie Smith said. "The point guard is the head. You can loose an arm or a leg and still live. If you loose your head, you die, and Mario is our head. He makes good decisions and I don't want the ball in anyone else's hands late in the game."
Senior center Mike Zuiderveen has given the Cardinals a much needed presence in the post, averaging 9.5 rebounds so far, and went a perfect nine for nine from the field in Saturday's win. His aggressive play kept him out for much of the first half due to foul trouble, but he was still able to tally 19 points on the night.
After the game, Zuiderveen talked about how important that aggressive play is to the team.
"It's something we haven't done in the last few years. That's huge for us."
Smith also talked about how important his big man to remain aggressive.
"Mike's a warrior. He's going to go hard all the time, whether he has one basket, zero baskets, or if he goes nine-for-nine," Smith said. "Our guards, Dante [Williams], Mario and Lawrence, are all great on the perimeter. It's when our big guys like Mike get it going we start to win by 15 or 20 points."
The afore mentioned Dante Williams helped round out the strong play of the Cardinals backcourt. The junior guard averaged 15 points over the weekend.
The team's 2-0 start has been fueled by a strong team effort, with four of the five starters averaging over 10 points per game. Smith talked about how important it is for the Cardinals to continue to play strong into Thanksgiving break.
"I told them, 'how nice would that turkey taste when you go home 4-0,'" Smith said. "We've got two win these four in a row at home going into conference play so when we play Ferris State, we're feeling good as a team and as individuals, and have some confidence going into conference play."
Zuiderveen agreed, saying the team needs to continue relying on each other for success.
"We've got to feed off each other in every game and in every practice. That's how we get better."
The team mentality is something Smith highlighted, saying the team will only go as far as their chemistry will take them.
"What is going to make or break this team is our chemistry," Smith said. If our team chemistry stays great like it was today. I said before the season, I don't know if we'll win three games, or 23, but so far we've won two, and we'll take that."
The Cardinals have two more games before Thanksgiving break, squaring off against Rochester on Monday and Indianapolis on Wednesday. Both games are at home, with tip off set for 7 p.m.