Jordan Scurry (left) helped get the team back on track during Monday’s practice (Spomer / WBR)
Greg McDermott’s team took Sunday off after Saturday’s closed scrimmage against Minnesota, and took a while to get going on Monday afternoon. Clunkers after off days aren’t unusual, but the lack of energy was noticeable during a half court defensive drill where different groups had to stop the offense from scoring over a stretch of five consecutive possessions. Jordan Scurry and Damien Jefferson helped pull the team out of the rut with the type of in-your-face constructive criticism the drill was lacking.
The energy on Tuesday seemed to be at a different level from the minute the team hit the court at the CHI Health Center to shoot around and stretch. Marcus Zegarowski and Greg McDermott got into some trash talk back and forth over whether or not McDermott still had his shooting touch. Zegarowski told him he’s never seen him make a shot, to which Mac responded by hitting a dribble, pull-up three, turning to his freshman point guard and replying “and now you’ve never seen me miss” before walking away. The Bluejays started the day with defense. They did a one-on-one drill with some transition defense principles, before going into a four-possession session that emphasized close outs, guarding ball screens, contesting without fouling, and rebounding. They moved on to transition offense before wrapping things up with some late-game situational stuff.
Mitch Ballock had his shot back on track after struggling in Saturday’s scrimmage (Spomer / WBR)
- Mitch Ballock shot the ball well on Monday after going 1-of-5 from beyond the arc against Minnesota. He knocked down three 3-pointers during a 5-on-5 session, including an impressive step back in the right corner over the outstretched arm of Jacob Epperson.
- Sam Froling was all over the place — in a good way — on Tuesday. He grabbed two offensive rebounds on one possession and eventually found Zegarowski on the wing for an open three. He also had a nice bounce pass off the dribble to Jefferson on a back cut to the rim along with several of his typical post moves to get buckets of his own. He looks primed to make an early impact this season.
- Davion Mintz had a nice sequence during the up and down portion of practice on Tuesday where he made some good reads that led to quality looks. The first came from the top of the key as came off a ball screen and flipped it back over the defense to Froling for an easy lay-in. The second play was another nice read to get Ballock an open three after coming off of a pin down.
- The team will practice on Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. before leaving for Big East Media Day in New York and finding out where they stack up in the preseason poll according to their peers.
Looking for more?
Take a listen of our live Scriptown Brewing Bluejays Bytes Podcast episode 45 from Monday night. Practice reports, talk about the team, and more information to digest as we get closer and closer to the season tipoff.
Also, see the other Practice Reports from this season.