The USC Salkehatchie Indians have struggled in their first five games of the season and Coach Travis Garrett is less than thrilled with his teams play, “In our first five games we have not been playing well at all. I have explained to the players that you will play like you practice and we haven't started clicking doing either. I told the kids after last night's loss to Middle Georgia that I can't teach them how to play with intensity, it has to come from the heart and as a player you have to want to succeed," said Coach Garrett.
Even though Coach Garrett says he has been disappointed, he has seen some positive things this season, "We have had some positives so far, we have been rebounding well and we are taking good shots. In the first few games we have been running the fast break well but again, we still have to learn to play an entire game with intensity", said Coach Garrett.
The Indians came out flat against Gulf Coast College, the #17th ranked team in the nation but turned things around in the second half with a strong defensive plan." I was excited after game one with Gulf Coast because they are a very talented team and we hung with them. If we would have been blown out by them, I could have expected it but we weren't, we played pretty good," said coach Garrett.In games against Central Florida and Middle Georgia, the Indians were never really in the contest. Against both teams, the Indians gave up over 90-points.Coach Garrett said, " It hurts that the guys don't understand yet about the importance of practicing hard but once they understand, I think we will turn things around and surprise some folks. I also have to be patient because we have a lot of freshman on this team and they are seeing better competition than they were accustomed to in high school."This past Friday night the Indians traveled to South Georgia Technical College in Americus, Georgia. The Indians found themselves behind from the outset with South Georgia jumping out to a 16-1 lead in the first half.
“You can't allow teams to jump on you early in games, especially after you explain to the kids before the game what to expect from their opponent," said Coach Garrett.
In the first half the Indians fell behind by 28-points at one point but they made a run to go into the half down 53-34.
In the second half the Indians would fight back against South Georgia, outscoring them 55-47 but it would be too little too late, the Indians lost by a final score of 100-89.
Coach Garrett said of his teams loss, "I would have to say that even though we lost tonight, I was impressed that the kids never gave up. It would have been easy for them to just pack it in after the fell behind early but after I spoke to them at half-time, they came out and gave their all, you can build on that."
Leading the Indians Friday night was Brandon Riley (Eatonton, Georgia) with 18-points and 4-rebounds, Gabe Mathis (Covinton, Georgia) 12-points and Chaze Williams (Branchville,
South Carolina) 12-points.
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