The Brescia University men’s basketball team hits the road to start the 2020-21 season as the Bearcats head to Martin Methodist to take on the Redhawks.
BU finished 10-19 last season and 4-12 in the River States Conference.
Bearcat coach Brian Skortz said it’s definitely been an interesting time preparing for the season.
“With these times during covid it has been a challenge for practices,” he said. “Everyday we have to due screenings disinfect the gym and did our testing seven days before of first contest. For NCAA Division 1 games we must test three times within the week. We got off to a later start of the year for practice and with such a young team it has been a challenge at times getting our system in places.”
The Bearcats home opener is Nov. 14 against University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis while first RSC away game is Dec. 1 at Midway with their first conference home matchup coming a few days later against Asbury.
Skortz said they’ve got several new players this season and it could take some time for them to mesh.
“We are a young team and we will see plenty of new faces playing this year so developing chemistry will take some time,” he said. “We are starting a freshman in John Saenz at our point guard position. He has performed well early but that is in practice we will see on Saturday how he adapts to the college game.”
Going into tomorrow’s match against the Redhawks, Martin Methodist finished 16-14 a year ago and were 8-10 in their conference. Sophomore guard Adarion Hudson was named the SSAC Freshman of the Year for the Redhawks.
Ricky Shuford is back for the Bearcats in 2020-21 as he was All-RSC Second Team last season after averaging 15.0 ppg and 6.8 ppg.
Shuford, along with Noah Cunningham and Hayden Shelton, are Bearcat captains this season as Jalen Rose also returns to help with the scoring.
Skortz said there have been a couple of things he didn’t expect so far.
“Desha Curtis has been a surprise he is a talented comb guard that can score in different ways,” he said. Freshman Micheal Caswell has also shown play making ability as well as Tayton Smith, from Warren Central, is a pure scorer. Austin Rager at second semester will be an immediate impact.”
Brescia and Martin Methodist hit the court at 3 p.m. in Pulaski, Tenn.
For the Bearcats to have the success they want this season, Skortz said they have to do a few things right.
“We must play better on the defensive end and be more consistent shooting the ball,” he said. “We are more athletic than last years team but time is needed to develop the chemistry needed to win games at this level. Need Seniors Ricky Shuford and Noah Cunningham to have big years along with Jalen Rose and Hayden Shelton, who last season gave us some shooting from the floor.”
