Semoball

SEMO Basketball Notes: Redhawks open their season - sort of

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray, center, directs a drill during the Redhawks' first practice of the 2019-20 season Wednesday at the Student Rec Center.
Tyler Graef ~ Southeast Missourian

The Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball team opened its 2019-20 season Wednesday with an early morning practice.

Sort of.

Of the 13 scholarship athletes, six weren’t available due to either injury (two players) or have not passed a conditioning test (four) that fifth-year Redhawks coach Rick Ray demands of his team.

That test is “a ladder” of suicide sprints and “they’ll run it again (Thursday),” Ray explained, “and if they pass it, then they get to play basketball.”

Redshirt freshman guard Jordan Love is currently out with mononucleosis, while Nebraska transfer Nana Akenten is recovering from a knee injury. Both should return at some point in the preseason.

Guards Khalil Cuffee and Chris Harris are among the conditioning exiles, as are forwards Darrious Agnew and Quatarrius Wilson, but Ray felt good about the progress of the latter two athletes.

“(Wilson) has been out so long,” Ray said of the McNeese State transfer, who injured his wrist this summer, “I’m not really concerned about him. He is a guy who has been hurt, so he really hasn’t had the opportunity.”

In the case of Agnew, he is the biggest (220 pounds) player on the Redhawks’ roster, so Ray said that has played a role in his conditioning.

“We expect a guy like him,” Ray said, “a guy that big, to struggle with it a little bit. But what I love about him is he is giving the effort. He’ll get there.”

The “conditioned” athletes will have practice No. 2 at 8 a.m. Thursday, but an hour earlier, the four players who are still trying to get in shape will be immersed in yet another session of running.

‘Guarded’ optimism

As with any first day of practice, every player had moments in which they looked good and others when they struggled. However, Ray was pleased with how his perimeter players, particularly a couple of young ones in sophomore Alex Caldwell and freshman DQ Nicholas, performed.

“Our two guards are doing a really good job of creating for themselves,” Ray said, “but also for others. Those guys are really hard to guard because of how explosive they are.”

Both Caldwell (6-foot) and Nicholas (6-foot-1) showed that athleticism when the Redhawks worked through the conversion portion of the practice.

Because of the limited numbers, the squad scrimmaged four-on-four, which allowed for more spacing to drive the ball, which was perfect for players such as Caldwell and Nicholas.

“I don’t know if they have any slow-twitch fibers in their bodies,” Ray laughed about the two. “They are doing a good job.”

Nicholas is 20 pounds (180) heavier than Caldwell and that strength is obvious. But what isn’t, that is until you watch him move, is the elite athleticism that Nicholas has.

The Southeast coaches tested the athletes in the preseason in leaping ability and Nicholas had the highest jump on the team. Not just the highest vertical jump, he also reached the greatest height, period.

Oscar ‘wow’

Junior guard Oscar Kao was also impressive with his driving ability during the practice, as he continually got to the rim and finished well.

On one of the rare times, he didn’t convert, he immediately dropped to the floor and did a quick set of push-ups as self-punishment.

He was an emotional player – in a positive sense – throughout the workout.

“Oscar is a guy, who has really started to understand what we want out of him,” Ray said. “He had a lot of ‘sauce’ with his game and was careless with the ball at the beginning (of his career). Now he is doing a much better job of taking care of the basketball. He is also improved defensively.”

Kao, who is a native of Taiwan, played in 19 games as a sophomore and dished out 21 assists against 13 turnovers.

Kao sank 52.4 percent from 3-point range a year ago.

Those numbers could grow this season.

“If he can show that he can guard,” Ray said. “He is going to be a huge help to us because offensively, all of the things that we are trying to teach guys here in America, he already knows how to do.”

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