Urgency and efficiency. These two words were used by Head Coach Joe Wallace a lot every practice. Because of the new NCAA rules, the Barons had their third practice of the pre-season this past Tuesday. It was a very tense and energetic practice as they prepared for the first official practice of the regular season which begins this Monday.
Urgency is a word that Wallace wants to ingrain in all of his players' heads. When you don't do a play or a skill work with 100% effort, it will not translate well into the game. In every drill, Coach Wallace made sure everyone was going 100% every play. He knows that the first official start of practice is this Tuesday and he also knows that the first game of the season is November eighth against Penn State Fayette. So when a player does not go full speed or simply does a habit drill wrong, he makes sure the player knows what they did wrong and to go full speed next play.
Habit drills are very important in this program. In the beginning of every practice, Wallace makes his players go through multiple different habit drills like defensive and offensive group work, the 'Villanova' drill, and working on different types off finishes and ball handling skills. He wants his players to do these drills 110% every time and to go full speed so when they are in a game and they are tired, their plays and fundamentals will translate very well and be close to 100%.
Senior Alan Wood with a defensive stance during a defensive group work habit drill.
During their practice, Wallace made sure to do some rebounding and offensive group work skills so his players can be ready for a tough and physical PAC season. The PAC this year has a lot of physical and big-body teams, so for every practice Wallace and his coaching staff make sure their players get hit around and do a lot of physical drills. During practice, the players went through a defensive group work drill that ended with Wallace shooting a basketball and the players boxing out and trying to get the rebound. For an incentive to win, Wallace does a point system during practice and splits the team into two teams: gold and green. Every drill this past practice had points involved and whenever a player made a defensive stop or scored the basket, their team would get a point. All of the players get hyped up whenever someones makes a stop or score and the team as a whole seemed more focused on all of the habit drills.
Gold teammates Tom Ciola (left) and Reece Miller (right) look to box out their opponent during a defensive group work drill.
This Barons team looks a lot better and more tough since the first practice I watched. The freshmen are developing a lot and the seniors are becoming better leaders on and off of the court. The players put on a great performance during their practice and went all out every single drill. Coach Wallace and his coaching staff looked extremely pleased throughout the whole practice. Watching the practice, I felt confidence and determination in this team. The vibe of this team is something like none other. If this team wants to make the PAC playoffs, they need to do two things: be urgent and efficient.
Senior Nicholas Allienello blocks teammate Yann Yonkeu during a drill.
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