HELENA — After playing nine games in 23 days to begin its season, Carroll College’s men’s basketball team hasn’t taken the court since Nov. 23. And the Fighting Saints won’t lace up their shoes for a game until they host Dickinson State on Saturday.
“There’s a good portion of it that’s recovery,” Carroll head coach Dan Pearson said of his team’s two-week hiatus. “We have eight healthy bodies. So, there was a good portion of that that was used just to make sure that the guys got home for Thanksgiving and their bodies got right.”
And in addition to getting healthy, Pearson says his team has used its time between games to do some serious self-scouting.
"Then we also had the first opportunity — because we had so many games in such a small window — to really go back and look at some of the habits that we’ve had that we need to fix,” said Pearson.
Carroll forward Derek Kramer said the time off has been needed.
“With coach Pearson being here it’s been a new system. So, picking up full court,” said Kramer. “Conditioning’s a big one. Just getting up into guys. We want to play the whole 94 feet ... And then being able to slow down in the half court when we need to, that’s another area that we’ve been working on here in practice the last couple weeks.”
And despite their current 3-6 record, these Saints remain confident that their season will only get better from here.
“Yeah, I think we’re in a good spot,” said Kramer. “Last year, we were kind of in the same spot that we are this year. I think that the preseason has taught us a lot about ourselves, things we need to improve on. And we’re definitely improving in those areas every single day. And conference [play], like I said, I think we’ll be ready for those, and we’ll have a successful year.”
Pearson said he is “pleased” with his team’s start to the season.
“I think we need to make sure we close the final four games before conference in a really healthy space,” continued Pearson. “I think that gives us a spot where we get ourselves healthy again. Bring two bodies, go into conference above .500. So, that would be a successful start all things considered.”
