The Cougars, who sport a sizzling 8-1 record, will face off with No. 19 Northwest (Wyo.) College on Friday and then take on No. 12 and defending national champions the College of Southern Idaho on Saturday. Both contests start at 7:30 p.m. Laramie County Community College will play the early contest both days at 5:30 p.m.
“This is a huge weekend and we have been building towards games like this,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “Obviously we had our eye on this part of the schedule from the get-go. We are excited to play against some pretty good competition.
“These are the kind of teams that fans want to watch and these are the type of games that our guys want to play. We just hope the community will rally and help us to support us this weekend. I know there is a lot going on, but we would love to have everybody out here.”
This weekend’s slate of contest will definitely have that national tournament feel as three of the four teams have a combined 27-3 record. WNCC, Northwest and Southern Idaho are three of the premiere teams in their regions this season and scoring will definitely be on display when the Holiday Classic kicks off Friday.
WNCC is averaging 105 points a game through nine games, while Northwest is 90-6 points a game. Southern Idaho, who only lost to No. 1 ranked Monroe (N.Y.) Community College 71-54 on Nov. 5, is scoring at a clip of 94 points a game. LCCC, the fourth team in the Classic, is averaging 70 points a contest.
Beck said that this year’s Cougar team definitely can score, but the defense will be key for the Cougars to pick up two wins.“The factor for us to beat any team right now is just to play better defense without fouling,” he said. “Offensively, we are talented enough that we can put the ball in the basket. I am not so concerned about our ability to score, but our ability to defend and putting our team on the free throw line that is what we have to continue to get better at.”
WNCC, however, is not too shabby on the defensive end, giving up just 69.2 points a game. Northwest is also sparkling on defense, allowing just 68.5 a game. CSI is just as impressive on the defensive side, allowing 78.6 points and limiting its opponents to 43 percent shooting.
Beck said they just need to do the little things on the defensive end.
“It is just the little things like not being greedy and not going for steals,” he said. “We also need to try to get defensive stops and box out at the end of possessions to get rebounds. The more stops that we get, the more opportunities we can get to get into offensive transition, which we really excel at. We just have to understand what the most important thing is not to gamble and just sit down and defend; and if we do that, will have a good weekend.”
Friday’s opponent, Northwest Wyoming, is coached by former Eastern Wyoming College player and coach Andy Ward, and Beck said while they played them in a jamboree in October, the Trappers are playing well. The Trappers are in a midst of a long road swing that has the team playing six games in nine days, which saw Northwest play in a tournament in Emphraim, Utah, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trappers defeated the host school Snow College 88-82 before suffering an 83-72 loss to Salt Lake Community College on Wednesday.
“They are playing well and they are playing better than they did at the jamboree when we played them,” Beck said. “Like most teams are at this point of the season, they are learning and growing. Coach Ward does a great job. They have shooters and they have some really great toughness. They present some obstacles.”
WNCC’s only loss of the season came Nov. 19 when they lost to the No. 16 Utah State University-College of Eastern Utah team 100-89. Beck said that if his team can play well offensively and defensively, they should be OK.
“Sometimes we take some quick shots and we don’t make the opposing team defend,” he said. “We definitely can score pretty quickly because we have some talented guys like that. It is nice to have the talent and nice to have the depth, and if we can compliment that offense with some defense, we have a chance to be a special team. Until that time, we are just a good team. We didn’t start the season to be good, we want to be great. So, we need to continue to work hard, be patient offensively, and sit down on defense and play some good D.”
NOTES: The Western Nebraska Community College Student Government will conduct “Bring a Can or Bring a Buck” canned food drive for the DOVES program of Scottsbluff during the Cougar men’s basketball game with the College of Southern Idaho on Saturday, Dec. 3. Student Government will accept non-perishable food items or monetary donations to help with the food bank at DOVES during the game. ... Also during the weekend’s Holiday Classic, which begins Friday, the elementary schools of the week are Cedar Canyon and Lincoln Elementary in Gering. Students, faculty and staff from the two schools will be admitted free. … The Cougar Spirit Dance Team will also hand out blue pom poms to the first 500 individuals at the game on Saturday against Southern Idaho.
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