Young NSU set for improvement

Nicholls State men’s basketball coach J.P. Piper believes it’s good for players to deal with adversity in the early stages of their careers, saying struggles build character.

The Colonels coach better hope that statement’s accurate, because his young team is being tested to its core so far in the new season.

With an inexperienced roster now littered with injury, the Colonels are fighting to stay afloat with Southland Conference play looming.

Despite the struggles, Piper believes his players will be better in the long haul because of the present challenges.

“It’s good for you to struggle. It’s good for you to be uncomfortable,” Piper said. “That’s the only way you’re going to learn and grow and get better. You’ve just got to fight through it. And we will.”

Even before the 2011-12 season started, Nicholls had several holes to fill, three starters graduated off last year’s team and a fourth (Fred Hunter) is sidelined for the season because of a torn ACL.

The Colonels planned to fill in the gaps with balanced offense, relying on the little experience they had, most notably senior Ben Martin and sophomore Dantrell Thomas.

That plan shattered into pieces as both Martin and Thomas now have injuries of their own and are currently out of action.

Martin is sidelined with a lower back ailment and has been seeing specialists to try and remedy the problem and get him back into action, a slow process that’s becoming a nuisance to both player and coach.

“There’s a lot of wait and see,” Piper said. “Which is really frustrating for Ben and for me. We just don’t have a lot of answers there.”

Thomas’ prognosis is a little bit more optimistic and Piper said he expects his guard to return to the floor soon after suffering a contusion on his calf muscle.

“He’s improving by leaps and bounds,” Piper said. “He had a deep tissue bruise in his calf and really, it was like a permanent dead-leg. He had no spring and no lateral movement. It’s a little more serious than we initially thought. … But he’s been doing some work on the side and we anticipate him back in the mix very soon.”

Even with the two returnees out of the lineup, Nicholls has fared reasonably well on offense.

The Colonels average 63.7 points per game this season, compared to the 65.6 they averaged last year.

Even that statistic is a bit skewed because the Colonels have faced some of their tougher opponents of the season early on, so one could reasonably expect the team’s scoring numbers to increase once Southland Conference play begins and Nicholls faces opponents closer to their competitive level.

“We’ve got so much talent,” freshman forward Sam McBeath said. “Offensively, we have so many different ways that we can score.”

The problems for the Colonels have come on the defensive side of the floor.

Nicholls allowed 70 or more points in each of its first seven games.

“Sometimes, we just get flustered and just miss plays,” McBeath said. “We’ve got the talent to make those plays and the scheme to make those plays. I think, at the end of the day, we’ll improve.”

The reason “plays aren’t getting made” on the defensive side is two-fold.

The obvious answer is inexperience.

With a lineup so heavily comprised of freshmen and sophomores, Piper said he’s spending countless practice hours trying to teach his scheme to players.

Sometimes they get it and defend masterfully. Other times, it’s not quite as peachy and opponents are able to get uncontested baskets because of a tactical error.

Piper said the breakdowns occur when his team isn’t communicating, something he said isn’t just a problem with his team, but with teenagers as a whole in today’s world.

“You’re dealing with teenagers turning into young adults and they are often non-communicative in all aspects of their lives,” Piper said. “If they are struggling in school, they don’t tell us. If they have problems at home, they don’t tell us. The same if their girlfriend breaks up with them, they don’t tell us.

“It’s consistent. But what we’ve got to get across to them is you can’t have five guys working in unison that aren’t going to speak to one another. … The only chance you have is to constantly be talking and constantly be communicating with one another.”

When the communication breakdowns occur is the second tier to the equation, fatigue.

With fewer numbers at his disposal, Piper is being forced to play guys like freshman Trevon Lewis upward of 35 minutes a game and freshman point guard Shane Rillieaux sometimes 40 minutes per game.

When fatigue sets in, the little things sometimes are forgotten.

“They are great at it when they are fresh and they’re alert,” Piper said. “It’s when fatigue sets in that those things break down. We’ve got to create situations where we’re late in practice, the players are fatigued. We’ve got to put them under a lot of stress to force them to communicate.”

With Southland Conference play looming, Nicholls has less than a month to polish its wrinkles and try and make a push at the conference tournament.

Despite an uphill battle, everyone believes flashes of greatness are shown up and down the Colonels team.

When those flashes become consistent, watch out, something special just might be brewing in Thibodaux.

“Our chemistry is actually kind of high,” Rillieaux said. “If we keep going, we can be even better and people can expect better things in the next couple of years.

“If we play better defense, of course. Effort and toughness. Coach always preaches effort and toughness. We get better at that, the future here is bright.”

AT A GLANCE

A look at NSU’s upcoming games

Dec. 16 Dillard 6:30 p.m. HOME

Dec. 19 North Carolina 6 p.m. AWAY

Jan. 4 UT-San Antonio 7 p.m. AWAY

Jan. 7 Texas-Arlington 7 p.m. AWAY

Jan. 11 Northwestern St. 6:30 p.m. HOME

Jan. 14 Sam Houston St. 3:30 p.m. HOME

Jan. 18 Cent. Arkansas 7 p.m. AWAY

Jan. 21 Southeastern 6 p.m. AWAY

Jan. 25 McNeese St. 6:30 p.m. HOME