Think fast — Mundelein sure is

The wins are starting to pile up at Mundelein, just like the points do.

The high-scoring and red-hot Mustangs, who have averaged more than 70 points over the last eight years, are now 17-3 and winners of their last nine games. A big part of that success has to do with Mundelein’s signature up-tempo transition offense, which yields nearly half of its points each game.

Lately, it’s been clicking on all cylinders, to the point where even opposing coaches can’t help but sing its praises.

“They’ve got the best transition game I’ve ever seen at this level,” Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said after his team lost to Mundelein earlier this month. “They do such a great job of getting the ball quickly down the floor.”

For the Mustangs, who have become one of the hottest teams in the north suburbs in the last few weeks, timing is everything. Literally.

Head coach Dick Knar says that his players play in practice with the same sense of urgency that they play with in games because they are constantly being clocked.

“The key to what we do in transition is that we practice it all the time and we practice while timing everything,” Knar said. “Every drill we do, we have to do in a certain amount of time. Like, the guys have to get to halfcourt in two seconds. We have a drill where they’ve got to make seven shots in 45 seconds and four of them have to be 3-pointers. We break down every aspect of how fast they need to get to a spot and where exactly they need to go.

“Doing that gets our guys used to playing at a faster pace so that when the games come, they’re comfortable with it and they’re ready to attack at all times.”

Attacking the basket with such vigor has also allowed the Mustangs to attack the boards with success, despite the fact that they often are operating at a significant height disadvantage.

Junior forward Sean O’Brien, who is 6-foot-5, is Mundelein’s only player taller than 6-foot-3.

“We keep all kinds of stats on our transition game and we’ve found that something very interesting happens when we get shots off the fast break,” Knar said. “We’ll get an offensive rebound 81 percent of the time when we take a shot off the fast break. But when we run a set play, we get an offensive rebound just 18 percent of the time.

“When we’re breaking, we’ve got the other team retreating and we’re running at the basket at full speed. It’s harder for the other team to box us out in that situation, so not only do we get off a lot of quick shots, we’re also getting more of them because we’re often getting offensive rebounds on misses.”

And yet, while more shots, more offensive rebounds and often more points all sound good in theory, Knar can understand why his high-octane offense isn’t for everyone.

“When it works, it can be beautiful,” Knar said. “But when it doesn’t, it can look like chaos. A lot of coaches don’t like that, a lot of kids don’t like that. They want something more controlled because it feels more comfortable.

“The trick is to get your players to buy into the idea that they are control, and as a coach, you have to have enough control of your players that you can give them control of the offense while they’re on the floor.”

Out of Africa

For three weeks, smack dab in the middle of basketball season, Chino Ebube was without a gym or a hoop.

The Mundelein forward traveled to Nigeria over the holidays to attend his grandmother’s funeral and has been playing catch-up ever since he got back on Jan. 7.

“From what I understand, he was in a pretty remote village and he really didn’t have access to much,” Mundelein coach Dick Knar said. “He couldn’t really shoot, couldn’t really work out. The biggest thing he had to do when he got back was work himself back into shape. He’s getting more comfortable now, but at first, it was pretty tough for him.”

The Mustangs are more than willing to help Ebube ride out the rough spots. In the games he’s played in, he’s been in integral part of the offense and defense, averaging about 10 points and 7 rebounds.

“Chino is such a good rebounder. He’s been very important,” Knar said. “Now, the trick is to get him worked back into the rotation while still finding minutes for all the guys who stepped up for him.”

While Ebube was away, the Mustangs got increased production out of several players, including Dylan Delaquila, Nate Brune, Nate Williams, Jordan Wiegold and Cliff Dunigan.

Dogs dig in

The dog days of basketball season haven’t hit the Grant Bulldogs.

“Sometimes at this point in the season, you have teams where you worry that they’ve already checked out,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “They’ve hit a wall and they’ve stopped listening, they’ve stopped practicing hard.

“With this group that we have this year, it’s just the opposite. Our guys are going harder than ever, they’re listening more intently. I’ve never had a group quite like this before. These guys are just working their butts off in practice every day and you can literally see us getting better every day. It’s like the light bulb clicked with them and they are just feeding on it.”

Grant is now 12-6 with three straight wins, including victories over Class 4A heavyweights Barrington and Stevenson in the last week. Last season, Grant lost decisively in the state tournament to Stevenson.

“We have a lot of guys back from last year and they remember that Stevenson game,” Bosworth said. “I think our guys played with a little bit of a chip on their shoulders, because they feel like they’re in that underdog role. Wins like that give them a lot of confidence.”

Share and share alike

It’s no wonder Grant boasts four players who average double-figures.

Jared Helmich (15 points per game), Sean Wells (12 ppg), Allen Lewis (11 ppg) and Ilya Kadushin (10 ppg) all like to shoot, but it’s clear that they also don’t hesitate to make the extra pass. Grant is getting an assist on 65 percent of its baskets.

“In our win over Stevenson (last week), we had 15 assists on 22 baskets,” Grant coach Wayne Bosworth said. “We’ve just done a really good job of keeping the ball moving. A consistent theme for us all season has been sharing the ball.”

Lewis has been the most generous. He leads the Bulldogs with 5 assists per game.

Not this time

Fans of Friday’s North Chicago at Grant game might be expecting a barnburner. After all, the two teams combined for 180 points in North Chicago’s 100-80 win on Dec. 2.

But Grant coach Wayne Bosworth is fully expecting a different type of game this time around. He says his team’s defense has improved significantly since that last North Chicago game.

“Our defense all over the court has gotten so much better, but we have really improved in the halfcourt,” Bosworth said. “We are much more capable of playing good, solid defense there.”

Bosworth cited recent victories over Barrington and Stevenson as examples. He said that Barrington took 18 3-pointers (and made only 4) and Stevenson took 20 3-pointers (and made only 4).

“That shows me that we did a really good job of keeping those teams out of the lane and forcing them to settle for a lot of long-range outside shots,” Bosworth said. “Our defense inside has been really tough. We haven’t been giving up many easy shots.”