Given his druthers, Dave Simmons would choose man-to-man defense in each game McNeese State plays.
Thursday may not lend him much of a choice.
The possibility of playing without rangy shot-blocker LaBarrius Hill in the post, coupled with Sam Houston State’s horrid shooting of late and the 2-3 zone’s successes in Monday’s 69-54 win against Stephen F. Austin, has Simmons debating defenses prior to the Cowboys’ third game in six days — this one against the coaches and sports information directors’ preseason pick to win the conference.
Hill, who did not practice Wednesday, sprained his toe in that win against the Lumberjacks and is labeled a game-time decision against the Bearkats. The 6 foot 8 junior college transfer is McNeese’s lone rim protector — his 14 blocked shots in 11 starts are six more than any other Cowboy — and is a safety net if a man-to-man defense breaks down, allowing an open driving lane.
Simmons zoned the Lumberjacks for a majority of the win, which ended Stephen F. Austin’s 26-game Southland Conference winning streak. The 11th-year coach inserted lanky, 6-foot-8 freshman Richard Laku at the top while Stephen Ugochukwu, a mobile big man, was able to slide to the top when necessary.
“Put it this way, if (Hill) isn’t able to go, we’ll have to look at a zone,” Simmons said. “It covers up some of our man defensive guys who would get lost. Our zone is big, we can get long, of course Richard and Stephen both have about seven-foot wingspans, which makes it tougher on the close out. It seems to give guys that have played a lot of minutes a break in that they don’t have to chase the whole time. But I like our zone, if it’s an active zone.”
Adding to Simmons’ intrigue is the woeful Bearkats’ shooting display across the team’s last three games. They have neglected to shoot above 20 percent from 3-point land in any of those, all games where they attempted at least 21 treys. No Sam Houston State player averages more than 11 points.
In a way, that ineptitude mirrors the Cowboys’ struggles. McNeese, billed as a perimeter-oriented team throughout the postseason, shoots just 31 percent from the 3-point line.
Ugochukwu’s carried the streaky perimeter effort across the first two conference games, averaging 18.5 points and eight rebounds to secure the program’s first 2-0 conference start since 2013-14.
“We always thought we’d be able to shoot the basketball and that’s what we have to get to,” Simmons said. “People are going to start to zero in on Stephen. Lance Potier is finding ways he can score but when we need big baskets on the inside, Stephen seems to be the answer for us.”
Foremost on Simmons’ agenda is to spark James Harvey, the sophomore who’s taken 43 more 3-point attempts than any of his teammates but is shooting just 29 percent.
Harvey is five for his last 10, though, including a shot-clock beating trey on the Cowboys’ first possession of the second half against Stephen F. Austin — a shot that extended the McNeese lead to five.
Assistant coach David Dumars reminded Simmons of this time last season. It was the team’s fourth conference game of the season against these very same Bearkats when Harvey, then a true freshman, exploded for a season-high 23 points on five 3-pointers in 28 minutes.
Simmons hopes for much of the same Thursday, a game when his depth could be tested against a veteran Bearkats team unhappy with its first two conference results.
“That’s the biggest thing I like about this team,” Simmons said. “When we faced adversity, someone’s always come in and picked up the slack. As a coach, you just try to find that guy that game.”
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