NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
EMMITSBURG — When Mount St. Mary’s opens its men’s basketball season Monday at Knott Arena against Notre Dame of Maryland, Xavier Lipscomb will be back on the floor for the Mountaineers.
Aside from his on-ball defense and ability to distribute, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound guard and graduate student carries a significant voice for the Mountaineers this season because of his past experience playing for first-year head coach Donny Lind.
Lipscomb, affectionately known as X, has been valuable in helping teammates get acclimated to their new coach by telling them what to expect. In turn, he’s also helped Lind and his staff understand what each player brings to the team and what makes them unique.
“Every coach wants their point guard to be a coach on the floor and somebody who that coach can use to get the message to players,” said Lind, who recruited Lipscomb out of St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia, when the coach was an assistant for Radford, prior to them both eventually landing at the Mount.
“Someone that maybe comes to the players in a different voice or a different way of speaking, and X is great at that. He trusts me, and he trusts what I say. The messages I give him, he’s able to take in for himself on what he needs to improve, but also [for] the guys, and be able to relay it to the players in a way that’s different than me. He’s saying the same things. It’s just coming in a different tone and different language. Because of that, it hits people differently.”
This will mark Lipscomb’s first on-court appearance in almost a year. Last November, he was driving to the basket in practice when a bad step resulted in a broken left foot that required surgery, during which screws were inserted into the bone.
“I am half-bionic at this point,” he joked during a recent practice.
Lipscomb spent most of the next five months in a walking boot. It wasn’t until early April that he was able to resume light shooting on his road to a full…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball-returning-lipscomb-carries-035900737.html
Author : The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Publish date : 2024-11-02 03:59:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
