MONTGOMERY – With five starters and 11 returners coming back from a team that finished 19-13 overall and tied for second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) with a 12-6 record, it comes as no surprise the Alabama State University Hornets men’s basketball team has been picked by a vote of the league’s coaches and media members to win the 2014-15 SWAC title.
This season the Hornets are changing their offense which will feature a more up and down attack, but the staple of Lewis Jackson coached teams will be defense. The players are finding that out very quickly two weeks into practice.
“We have got to get better with our zone and man defense,” Jackson said. “Right now we are really getting after the players to play harder and better on defense. We have a lot of guys that can score, but are not very good on defense. They are finding out we are going to play hard on defense whether we are having a good shooting game or not.”
The Hornets may have a lot of returning players from last year but the coaching staff has also added five newcomers and two other players that redshirted last season with injuries.
“When you bring in new players you have to spend a lot of time stopping practice for instruction and that is the case a lot with the way we want to play defense,” Jackson said. “These guys are good athletes so if we can get them to buy into our defense and use their athleticism on that side of the ball it will make them even better players.”
This season the Hornets do not have the luxury of playing an exhibition game or two to put into practice what they are working on so it is even more important for the Hornets to get everything right in practice so when Nov. 14 rolls around they are ready.
“We have been working for two weeks and have two weeks before the first game and it will be here before we know it,” Jackson said. “With us jumping right into the regular season we have to get ready now. When we hit the floor for the first time this season it will be for real since we don’t have any exhibition games scheduled.”
The Hornets open the season hosting long-time foe and cross-city neighbor Auburn University Montgomery. That game will be Friday, Nov. 14 with a 7 p.m. tip. Following the game the Hornets will board a bus and travel to Fayetteville, Ark., where they will face SEC power Arkansas Sunday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m.
The Alabama State athletic department recently announced basketball season tickets are now on sale. Please check bamastatesports.com or call the ASU Ticket Office at 334-229-4557 for more information on season ticket packages.
