Young Judson looking to make more positive strides

The rebuilding of the Judson University men's basketball team continues to take major steps forward.

The Eagles return four starters from last year's young team that went 7-23 overall.

"We have 85 percent of our roster back and we had almost an entire roster of freshmen last year," said Judson coach Joel Cotton, who doubles as the school's athletic director. "I like the fact that we are a year older. We've been able to get more advanced with the group because they've been with us for a year or two years in some cases. We're moving at a better pace offensively and defensively."

That list of returners for Cotton includes Turner Schwarz (6-foot-5 junior forward, Burleson, Texas), Andrew Eck (6-3 sophomore guard, Belvidere), Will Woodhouse (6-2, sophomore guard Westminster Christian) and Scott Nelson (6-9 sophomore center, Sycamore).

Cotton likes how the team shapes up in the post with Nelson and 6-7 sophomore forward Illya Galloway (Thornton-Fractional South) there. Nelson is coming off shoulder surgery in April and should be back in the mix soon, Cotton said.

"We have two of the bigger post players in our conference," he said. "There is a lot of potential with those two."

Judson also has the ability to hit from the outside.

"A strength of ours is our 3-point shooting," the coach said. "We have guys who are capable of shooting. We're capable of locking down that outside shot and that's something we will rely on."

Judson will encounter a plethora of talented teams within the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

"Our league is extremely difficult," said Cotton. "Three of the teams were in the (NAIA) Top 25 in the preseason and we expect that to be the same the entire season. Cardinal Stritch was No. 1 most of the year."

But Cotton noted his team is ready to do battle and isn't shying away from any challenges.

"We will make strides this year," he said. "I don't know if we are ready to compete for a conference championship just yet, but we will improve week by week and day by day. Our goal is to get back in the conversation. We're still young. We still have no seniors. It's a process and it's a process we are going to be patient with."

Judson played in two tournaments to kick off the year and went 0-4.

"We're improved defensively. I'm very pleased with the defensive effort," Cotton noted. "We're struggling a little with our shooting right now."

Other locals on the squad include sophomore TJ Adams (6-0 guard, Huntley) and ECC transfer Vytautas Jaras (6-7, forward).

Through the first four games, Woodhouse was leading the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game. Junior guard Luke Pearson (Thorntown, Ind.) was averaging 8.8 points, while Eck was at 7.8 points. Calloway was the team leader in rebounds at 6.0 per game. Junior forward Troy Jackson (Benedictine University transfer) was second at 5.3 per game.