Coach Says UCHS Basketball Team is Still Learning How to Win

basketball team has come a long way since last season’s 10-13 record. Currently sitting with a 7-5 record, head coach Davis Gammon said they are still learning how to win.

“My first year as head coach was last year and we went 10-13. So, we are still trying to increase our basketball IQ and fine tune all the aspects of the game that are required to be consistent winners,” Gammon said.

According to Gammon four of their five losses have been by top 10 ranked large schools from around the area. “On the positive side I think beating Soldan and Borgia to open our season gave us confidence that we can win against good teams this season,” he said.

With a positive outlook, Gammon said he believes his team has the potential to be a very good team and they have realized that it’s best for them to focus on the season game by game. “At the beginning of the year I think I focused too much on what was possible as far as the season’s outcome,” he said. “What happens during the season or at the end of the season will take care of itself.”

Gammon said as a team their goals are to play hard, smart and work as a team. With players like Brandon Wagner, Prince Cody and Travon Williams, Gammon said it’s only a matter of time before they have a perfect execution team. “These guys have led us in scoring and Demond Tillman sets the tone often, as far as, effort and the little things that need to get done.”

Although Gammon gives credit to some of his key players he said they are not a one or two player team. “We have a deep bench and we need every player to step it up in practice and in games no matter how limited their playing time may be in order for us to be successful,” he said.

As the team goes forward Gammon said he believes they have a great shooting game and they can definitely handle the ball. However, he said they need to improve on rebounding; defense and most importantly they need to learn to play more like a team. “With our talent level it is easy for our guys to fall into the trap of trying to do too much by themselves,” he said. “We need to work on sharing the ball more and running more offense to open up better shots for our players. Simply put our shot selection must get better.”

Gammon said that he is very proud of his team and how hard they play. “We need to learn how to play hard all of the time. We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to playing smart i.e., taking care of the ball, running an offense better, shot selection,” he said.

By learning to share the ball Gammon said everyone will benefit by getting better looks at the basket.

“If they try their hardest to keep working on getting better every day in practice and in games, I will be as proud of them as anyone could be,” Gammon said. “Only they can decide if they are willing to put in the work and make the sacrifices to be as good as we can be. It has to be a team first effort.”