Got to get better: Coach McMahon sees need for growth after OCC game

Nov. 15—The Lions may have won by 30 and controlled the night for the most part from start to finish on Thursday when Ozark Christian College visited the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center for an exhibition men’s basketball game.

But Missouri Southern head coach Sam McMahon had a clear message following the 109-79 win.

“That we got to get better, that we got to improve,” McMahon said. “We got to get better, specifically defensively. We’ll do that. That’s part of growing as a team as one unit. … That takes time, that takes practice, that takes reps.”

The game counted toward MSSU’s record, making it 1-2, but did not count toward OCC’s record, as it is still 2-0. The Ambassadors are a Division II school in the National Christian College Athletic Association.

Part of the defensive struggles showed in allowing OCC to shoot 50% from the 3-point line; Ozark made 11 of 22 attempts.

An area that has ailed the defense all year is fouling. The Lions fouled 19 times in their first game that led to 20 free throw attempts for Arkansas Tech. They fouled 18 times and Southwestern Oklahoma State University ended up shooting 24 free throws.

That looked a little better Thursday as MSSU fouled 15 times and OCC only got to shoot 15 free shots.

“We have to learn to play without fouling and play physical without fouling,” McMahon said.

Throughout the game, Southern shot the ball well at 53.5% overall. It was a deadly 44.4% from beyond the arc on 16-of-36 shooting. The first half saw the home team make nine of 17 triples.

But there was a stretch in the second half that caused coach McMahon to want to pull his hair out. During a 4 1/2-minute span, the Lions missed six 3-pointers, made one and only scored eight points in 10 possessions.

“Honestly, I love shooting threes. First of all, we want to get to the paint first. We don’t want to just one pass, 3-pointer. We want to attack the paint,” McMahon said. “Because the best shot in basketball is a free throw. And how you get to the free throw line is to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/got-better-coach-mcmahon-sees-233100631.html

Author : The Joplin Globe, Mo.

Publish date : 2024-11-15 23:31:00

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