Antwain Banks moves forward with JC Smith basketball

DONALD WATKINS

Johnson C. Smith's Golden Bulls are on a three-game win streak under interim coach Antwain Banks after opening the season with a pair of losses. The most recent win was a 67-65 decision against Virginia Union in the Golden Bulls' CIAA opener.

Antwain Banks is OK with succeeding a legendary figure.

Banks, Johnson C. Smith’s interim basketball coach, inherits a job previously held by Steve Joyner, whose 600 wins over 36 seasons is the third most in CIAA history and delivered the Golden Bulls’ three conference tournament titles. He also knows there’s a legacy to uphold while navigating a new job with a roster that includes several holdovers from Joyner’s final team, which went 14-12 – their first plus-.500 campaign since 2019-20.

“I understand the climate of basketball these days with the way the transfer portal is, the way recruiting is you can turn over a roster in a year,” Banks said. “With me getting the job in May and the roster pretty much set we’ve got to roll with what we’ve got, but that’s perfectly fine. Coach Joyner did a phenomenal job to recruit some great kids first and foremost. I’m just trying to come and get established here and continue to build this thing up so we can consistently be at the top to contend for CIAA championships.”

Banks, a former assistant coach at Division I Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, is no stranger to Division II or historically Black colleges. He spent four seasons as head coach at Division II Kentucky State, where the Thorobreds went 51-59 from 2011-15 with consecutive 15-win seasons (2012-13, 2013-14). He also was an assistant coach at Division I Alabama A&M.

“Being from Indiana, and basketball in Indiana, it’s a little different,” Banks said, “but the one thing that I tell people all the time is North Carolina, this is a great state for basketball. The transition from a basketball standpoint has been great, because there’s a great brand of basketball in the state of North Carolina. There's great talent in the state of North Carolina.”

The Golden Bulls (3-2, 1-0 CIAA), who have won three straight after opening the season with two losses, already have a signature win after beating CIAA rival Virginia Union 67-65 Nov. 26 at Brayboy Gym, where JCSU is 3-0.

“I’ve heard over time that this was one of the toughest gyms to play in, so obviously I was excited, looking forward to that,” he said. “We got a taste of it [at the Tip-Off Classic], with the great energy … it was electrifying, and it was giving us something that we can look forward to playing off, especially with this stretch of home games that we have.”

While Banks is trying to implement a new philosophy and tactics, unseen circumstances have presented early challenges. Games against Lees-McRae and Belmont Abbey were canceled or postponed, which took away valuable games.

“Obviously the guys are still trying to get adjusted to me and I’m getting adjusted to them. I’m trying to figure out lineups, I’m trying to figure out chemistry and it kind of threw us in a funk because we played two weeks ago, and we had a cancellation with Lees-McRae and had to reschedule that. … Belmont Abbey cancelled on us … so we were idle (for a) week, so the guys were itching to go out and beat on somebody else instead of hearing my voice every day during the week for practice.”

It's working better for the Golden Bulls, primarily because they have experienced leadership. Four players average double-digit scoring, with three seniors – Ashton Sherrill (16.0 points per game), Chris Ealy (12.2 ppg) and Javon Anderson (10.4 ppg) joined by sophomore Asa White (13.4).

“We’ve still got a long way to go, but I think the buy-in is there,” Banks said. “I think guys are eager wanting to play and play for one another.”

That means adjusting to Banks’ philosophy. It starts on defense, where he prefers a one-on-one scheme while the offense is geared to run when possible.

Coach [Joyner] was known for the 2-3 zone,” Banks said. “I’m known for man-to-man. We’re going to get after it defensively and that’s been an adjustment for guys. I’m trying to be patient with understanding two different styles of play, and then offensively, we do want to get out and run, we do want to play at a faster pace.

“We want to start pressing a little bit, but we haven’t gotten there yet. We're still working on our man-to-man principles and what that looks like. … We’ve just got to continue to iron the kinks out, continue to stack days and get better with it.”

JCSU was predicted to finish near the bottom of the CIAA in the coaches’ preseason poll, but Banks isn’t conceding anything in terms of expectations.

“I look forward with what comes with the territory as far as about being here in Charlotte,” Banks said. I look forward as far as what the expectation is here at Johnson C Smith, and just want to implement my style of play, continue to get these guys to buy in, and hopefully we can give everybody something to be proud of.”

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