As men’s basketball practice began to wind down Wednesday, head coach Dana Altman still had plenty of energy left in the tank.
Pacing around the floor, he bellowed out instructions as if the Ducks were playing in a live game. As the team practiced its full court press, he implored the players to pick up the energy.
The message: No. 9 Missouri will be pushing the tempo Thursday night. Knowing this, Altman was not altogether pleased with what he saw on the floor during practice.
“We had a great day on Monday,” Altman said. “Yesterday and today (we) weren’t as sharp.”
With a young and inexperienced roster, it is clear that the team still had plenty of work to do. Early December may not be the best time to face two top-10 ranked teams in a row (No. 1 Duke last Saturday, No. 9 Missouri tonight). Yet ultimately, Altman sees it as an opportunity to improve.
“Ideally, it’s probably not what we need,” Altman said. “But it’s good for us. It shows you areas we’ve got to work on.”
The full court press is one of those areas in need of improvement, and for his part, junior guard Garrett Sim was pleased with the progress made on Wednesday.
“We just cleaned up some of the rotations,” Sim said. “I think our traps gave Duke some problems and I think they can give a lot of teams some problems. So we’re looking to get that cleaned up.”
Junior forward Teondre Williams agreed, and pointed to the Duke game as something to build on.
“That game gave us a lot of confidence, even though we lost,” Williams said. “Because we know that we can force a lot of turnovers. If we can force (Duke) to 20 turnovers, then we can force anybody to any amount of turnovers that we need.”
Offensively, ball movement was a point of focus during Wednesday’s practice. Sensing that Missouri will employ fierce traps in tonight’s matchup, Altman emphasized moving without the ball and swinging it to an open man.
“We’ve got to make better plays,” Altman said. “Got to make better decisions.”
At one point, frustrated with Williams after he drove the ball into heavy traffic, Altman employed a humorous tone.
“You weigh, what, 225 (pounds)?” Altman asked Williams. “I wish I were 6’4, 220 (pounds)! Use it!”
Williams responded on the very next play, taking the ball to his right and pounding into the lane for a layup.
“He’s a player that can get us more,” Altman said. “There’s a lot more there, so (I) just talk to him about some of the adjustments he has to make.”
During the same drill, Altman repeatedly stopped play to point out when players had wide-open three pointers. Missouri’s style of play is turnover-based, often using double-teams to force the ball from opponents. Those traps, however, always leave one man wide open.
“(Missouri is) forcing teams into 23 turnovers a game,” Altman said. “That’s a big number for anybody, so we’re going to have to do a great job of handling the ball and not turning it over.”
Throughout Wednesday’s frenetic practice, juniors Malcolm Armstead and Jeremy Jacob saw limited action. Their availability for Thursday night uncertain, Altman made clear the team would have to make do with what it had.
“We’re going to play the way we play,” Altman said. “We’re a little shorthanded, and I don’t know who all’s going to be ready to play (Thursday).”
As practice ended, Altman brought the team together in a huddle. He may not have been perfectly content with the progress made on that particular day, but keeping the team together as one remained a necessity. The growing pains may continue, but Altman is looking to filter them out, one at a time.
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