Four days not enough as UCCS falls to Western State
Apparently, four days just wasn't quite enough.
Patrick Hannaway scored 28 points, but that wasn't enough to prevent the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs from being beaten 73-60 by the Western State Mountaineers Friday night in interim coach Doug Schakel's debut as the Mountain Lions' coach.
Schakel, who took over as UCCS coach on Monday, had only limited practice time to install his motion offense and defensive schemes.
"I think our kids did a great job" -considering," said Schakel. "We had four days to prepare and we're used to having five weeks of preseason."
The lack of familiarity showed. Playing a defense designed to deny easy baskets in the paint, the Mountain Lions struggled to close out on the perimeter shooters. As a result, 40 of Western State's 62 field goal attempts came from 3-point range. The Mountaineers converted on 16 of those (40 percent).
"Our plan all week was to really pack in the paint because (Western State) was really wanting to drive," said UCCS center Bly McGuire. "We got that accomplished but they came and knocked down a bunch of threes."
UCCS also struggled to keep Western State off the offensive glass, yielding 17 offensive rebounds.
"I will be a task master next week on block-outs," said Schakel. "We can't give up 17 offensive rebounds, and a lot of times those offensive rebounds turned into 3-pointers."
Offensively, the Mountain Lions weren't crisp in their execution and managed only 43 field goal attempts. They also went 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
When UCCS did manage to execute the offense, though, it was a thing of beauty. The Mountain Lions shot 55.8 percent from the field, mostly on layups, including Hannaway's 12-for-15 performance.
"The offense works really well when we execute it," said McGuire. "Once we get another week or two of practice, it'll be looking pretty good."
Carleton Goggins led Western State (6-9, 2-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) with 20 points. Devan Royer added 15 points, while Zach Smith had 11.
McGuire had 17 points for UCCS (2-14, 1-7 RMAC), while Bryan Snyder added 10.
"We're kind of putting this thing in in pieces," said Schakel. "We got the first piece in tonight."
UCCS Players/Staff Featured | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Patrick Hannaway | 34 | G/F | Sr. |
 | Patrick Hannaway | 34 | G/F | Sr. |
 | Bly McGuire | 33 | C | Sr. |
| Bly McGuire | 33 | C | Sr. |
 | Bryan Snyder | 54 | F | So. |
| Bryan Snyder | 54 | F | So. |
| Additional News Stories | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| September 27, 2006 |  | Hannaway named preseason All-RMAC | Patrick Hannaway of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs men's basketball team was selected to the preseason All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first team, the conference announced Wednesday. |
| June 8, 2006 |  | Men's basketball recruiting class announced | When Russ Caton took over as the new coach of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs men's basketball team, the first order of business was to evaluate the team he had inherited. The second was to augment that core. |
| April 17, 2006 |  | Tryout a success for players, coaches | Thirty-nine hopefuls attended the UCCS men's basketball tryout on Friday. |
| April 10, 2006 |  | Kappel hired as assistant coach | The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs men's basketball program took another step forward Monday with the hiring of Bill Kappel as assistant coach. |
| April 6, 2006 |  | Campus community gets chance to meet Caton | The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Athletic Department hosted a reception to allow members of the campus community to meet new men's basketball coach Russ Caton on Thursday. |
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