Ryan Paris
Sports Media Student
It was pretty safe to say that the Grizzlies’ Men’s Basketball team put their disappointing loss at Garden City behind them, as they went on to beat the Seward County Saints 103-65 Wednesday Nov. 16 at the Power Plant. Sophomore Will Adler had an incredible game, with a whopping 26 total points to easily lead the team, and making eight out of 11 attempted shots at three-point range. Freshman LaJuan Hardy also chipped in with 15 points of his own, sophomore Jacolby Harris had 13 points, and sophomore Semaj Hervey had 11 points. After the win, the Butler Grizzlies improved to 4-1 in the season.
The Grizzlies were able to conclude the first half hot, and the second half proved to be no different as the momentum stayed on their side. They shot 54 percent on the floor, including 49 percent from three-point range.
Head coach Bryan Miller knows that there is a long road ahead for the season, though. “It all starts here on the practice floor”, he said. “We’ve just got to be consistent with our efforts in practice, we’ve got to go hard every single route, and push each other at everything we do” Miller said.
Miller also loved what he saw out of Adler. “He had a great game. He’s the confident kind of guy. Our guys did a good job of just finding him in open spots and just making sure he got the ball and kept feeding that hot hand.”
His mindset going into the game against Barton on Saturday, Nov. 19, is no different however. “They’re a different type of team, they’re going to play a little bit more zone, and they’re going to play some more on defense as well, and they do a lot of side-ball screen action”, he said.
This could prove to be a tough game; however, as Barton has gotten off to a hot start, starting out undefeated at 5-0 on the young season. The Cougars beat Garden City very convincingly 92-70. The Grizzlies will look to go up 5-1 while the Cougars will look to stay undefeated. “As you will see in practice, we are gonna go over some of their action, and try to get ready for them”, Miller said.
