Interior Defense A Key for Kats in 2016
11/1/2015 8:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball
During a 26-9 campaign in 2014-15, the Sam Houston men's basketball team finished as Southland regular season runner-up, reached the finals of the Southland tournament and earned a second consecutive berth in the CollegeInsider.com post season tournament .
A major reason for the success of a Bearkat program that has totaled 50 victories in back-to-back seasons for only the second time in program history is defense.
Last year, Sam Houston led the Southland in scoring defense (59.5) and field goal percentage defense (.389). Head coach Jason Hooten gives a lot of the credit for the defensive success to last year's Southland Defensive “Player of the Year” Michael Holyfield.
“Any time you have a 6-11 guy in our conference, it's something special,” Hooten said. “They don't come around much very often.”
Holyfield's career at Sam Houston is done. His departure brings up one of the key questions about the outlook for the Bearkats in 2015-16.
“Michael had a great career here, but now he is playing for the NBA Memphis Grizzlies in the D league,” Hooten said. “He was a defensive presence here year in and year out. So it's big shoes to fill. We were so good defensively the last couple of years and a lot of that was due to him. He erased a lot of mistakes.”
Aurimas Majauskas, a 6-8 junior who was Holyfield's backup last year, returns. Newcomers under the boards for the Kats include 6-8 Andre Sands from Casper Junior College and freshman6-9 Marc Fortin from Quebec City in Canada.
“Aurimas is a totally different player from Michael,” Hooten said. “Aurimas doesn't have near the size and length Mike did. But he is a much stronger player offensively. Aurimas can shoot threes and move around and play inside and outside. He was our seventh leading scorer last year and could be our leading scorer this year.”
Hooten, who has directed the Bearkats to 98 victories and five consecutive Southland tournament appearances in his tenure as Sam Houston head coach, likes a lot of things he sees from his 2015-16 team in preseason work.
The head coach believes both his incoming post players have qualities and abilities that will help the team.
“Andre is a big 6-8 kid who is about 250 pounds,” Hooten said. “Right now he is getting used to the transition from junior college to Division I. He has an opportunity to become a good player for us and get some minutes.
“We've been really impressed with Marc. He is highly, highly athletic. At this point in his career as a freshman, he is a lot further along than Mike was four years ago. Not only is he big, he has good hands and is a highly intelligent young man.”
Hooten, a coach who has always emphasized hard-nosed defense, knows post play will be a key in the coming campaign.
“Defensively, the biggest key for us right now is our interior defense,” Hooten said. “Like most years when you have added a lot of new people there are growing pains. We're definitely not a finished product now but I do like the work ethic and the toughness of the group. I think when it's all said and done we will have a chance to be right there.”
Sam Houston tips off the regular season on Saturday November 14 against the SMU Mustangs in Dallas. The first home game will be Tuesday, November 17, when the Kats play host to Saint Thomas at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Season tickets for Bearkat men's and women's basketball are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com or at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located on the west side of Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone number is 936 294-1729.
