Huntley focused on doing the right things

In retrospect, losing their Valley Division home opener to Jacobs last week might have been a good thing for the Huntley boys basketball team.

Despite being a young team overall the only two seniors in the eight-man rotation are 6-foot-3 guard Tyler Brunschon and 6-3 forward Dylan Neukirch the Red Raiders have already accomplished a great deal by mid-January. Huntley won the Sycamore Thanksgiving Tournament with a win over Dundee-Crown and finished second at the 16-team Jacobs Holiday Tournament.

But after they beat Crystal Lake South in the Valley road opener last week to improve to 12-3 overall, the Red Raiders slipped at home against Jacobs, a rival Huntley had beaten in regional playoff games each of the two previous seasons.

Teams with 12-3 records in January don't always experience "turning points" or "ah-ha moments," but the loss to Jacobs definitely got the Huntley players' attention. It forced them to narrow their focus on what they were doing wrong rather than be satisfied with what they had been doing right.

Defense was the problem, specifically a lack of physicality. Because the rotation includes three juniors (forward Justin Frederick, guard Troy Miller and reserve guard Jake Brock), two sophomores (forward Bryce Only and reserve guard Jake Dachman) and a promising 6-5 freshman, Almanze Egekeze, the Red Raiders aren't a naturally physical team.

Jacobs burned the Red Raiders for multiple layups in last Friday's mild upset, mainly because younger Huntley didn't fight its way through enough screens. Young teams need to be reminded to be physical, Huntley's coach said, particularly in conference games.

"We've got some big-time deficiencies in terms of size, height and just physical strength because we only have two seniors on our roster," Manning said. "So we can look at it as glass half full and be extremely proud of our record right now and how we've done in tournaments. Or we could look at is glass half empty because a couple of the games we lost we think we should have won.

"We can be greedy and really go after conference so I challenged the guys. If they wanted that, they had to be physically and mentally tougher the rest of the way because conference games are so difficult to win."

Huntley took a big step in the right direction Wednesday by demonstrating a far more physical approach to defense against visiting Dundee-Crown.

There was no repeat of the layup festival Jacobs held under Huntley's rim last week. The Red Raiders won 48-34 as a result, the lowest point total by a Huntley opponent in 32 games, dating back to December of 2009.

"They were very physical," Dundee-Crown senior Ryan Smith said afterward. "They play really good team defense."

Smith also pointed out why Huntley's offense is so tough to guard.

"They have so many guys that can do so many different things," he said. "They have Miller who can shoot the three, and Tyler and Neukirch are both just great all-around players. Then they have role players who can step up and shoot threes and guys who get offensive rebounds and putbacks.

"They all contribute. I think that's why they're so good they're a team and they do it together. It's not one guy scoring 30 points. We were going over the scouting report and it was like, 'OK, who's going to guard him, who's going to guard him and who's going to guard him?' They've got a lot of weapons and they're physical. It's a good team."

Huntley has four prime scoring options: Brunschon (13.1 ppg) is equally effective driving to the basket or shooting from 3-point range, where he has connected on 29-of-85 attempts (34.1 percent); Miller (12.2) has scored 123 of his 208 points via 41 3-pointers; Neukirch (10.9) has been a steadying force after missing the first seven games of the season with a hand injury; and Frederick averages 9.2 points and leads the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.

The other four players in the rotation can score when asked but mainly fill other roles: Only (4.2 ppg.) is second on the team in assists (30) and rebounds (4.2 avg.) but second to none when it comes to hustle points; Dachman and Brock give the team adept ball-handling guards off the bench; and the long-armed Egekeze is slowly but surely developing into one of the area's future impact players.

However, with so many scoring options, the Red Raiders sometimes have trouble choosing the who, when and how of point producing.

"It is definitely one of the strengths of this team that all eight guys can score when they're on the floor," Manning said. "I don't want to say it's been a weakness, but what we've in turn struggled with as a team is recognizing what is the best shot to take at what time.

"In our last four games we've scored in the forties, and I think our team is too talented offensively not to be scoring in the sixties. If we can continue to be good physically defensively, the next step is going to be getting better mentally offensively, understanding where we should look to score, where we have mismatches and not shooting 3-pointers after one pass because we can probably get those shots at any time in the game.

"I think that's where our inexperience is hurting us."

Of course, "hurting" is relative term when you're 13-4. Though Huntley has endured a few growing pains, several area programs would gladly trade records.

However, the best may still lie ahead if the Red Raiders continue to heed their coach's two main points of emphasis.

"If we can get them to be physically tough and mentally tough, then we definitely can win conference and maybe a regional and maybe even a sectional," Manning said, "but it's going to take (Neukirch and Brunschon) being leaders and making sure that the other six who are all juniors, sophomores and a freshman toe the line and do what they're supposed to do.

Neukirch said he sees things coming together. He has faith in his younger teammates.

"Even though they're young they've been there before, and we've had a lot of close games this season," Neukirch said. "I definitely think when it comes to crunchtime it won't be just me and Tyler stepping up, I think everyone will be stepping up. Everyone seems to know their role in this team and we're having fun."