While “consistently inconsistent” seems like an oxymoron, it is also a fair way of describing this year’s men’s basketball team.
After being embarrassed by an 18-point loss last Saturday to Missouri State, the Bluejays got a double-digit win of their own over Indiana State, 65-52. In the loss to Missouri State, the Bluejays shot a discouraging 37 percent from the field and allowed the Bears to go on a 17-0 run in the second half. Tuesday night the Jays battled an injury-riddled Indiana State team and handled them comfortably behind center Kenny Lawson Jr.’s 17-point, 10-rebound and four-block performance.
Coach Dana Altman was happy to see his big man perform well on Tuesday night.
“Kenny is a big part of our team, and he has developed. When he plays well, we play better,” Altman said. “When he is a little off, we are a little off, and we have come to depend on him quite a bit.”
The Bluejays sit a game above .500 with a 13-12 (8-6) record, which puts them fourth in the latest MVC standings. Only three games separate the second place and seventh place teams. While the Jays will not win the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, their remaining games are still important if the Jays want to get one of the better seeds in the conference tournament. Altman understands this last month of the season is a very important one.
“You have to sharpen your focus, you have to sharpen the practice time you do have and get things going. It will remain to be seen how we handle the last month of the season here. The conference tournament is four weeks away. This will be an important month for us; there are a lot of areas we still need to improve upon,” Altman said.
Lawson was on track with Altman’s train of thought.
“We’re obviously not where we want to be, but we still have to keep working and keep fighting. We know there’s still a lot to play for,” Lawson said.
One recent bright spot on offense for the Bluejays has been the scoring of redshirt-freshman Josh Jones, who has picked up many of suspended junior P’Allen Stinnett’s minutes. The sweet-shooting freshman enjoys scoring but understands the more important task at hand.
“My baskets really don’t count if we don’t do the little things to execute and win the game,” Jones said. “I can score as many baskets as we can, but if we don’t guard, rebound and defend it won’t really matter.”
Unfortunately for the Bluejays, the upcoming schedule doesn’t get any easier. On Saturday the Bluejays will get their second chance to beat Osiris Eldridge and the Illinois State Redbirds before traveling to Cedar Falls to take on the league’s best team Northern Iowa.