Mixed early results for JC Smith basketball

HERBERT L. WHITE | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith basketball coach Antwain Banks is looking for more consistency from the Golden Bulls in his second season with the program.

Acclimation is a challenge for Johnson C. Smith basketball.

With a remade roster, the Golden Bulls are still figuring each other out during a 3-2 start. Inconsistency has been evident on both ends of the floor, but they crossed a hurdle Nov. 29 when they beat Elizabeth City State 82-72 for their first road win. 

“Half new guys, half old guys, just to process, as far as how we do things, what we're looking for,” coach Antwain Banks said. “The new guys are trying to figure it out. I’m trying to be patient with them trying to figure it out, so I just think more practice, more games we’ll get better with it. I think we just hit maybe the 30-day mark as far as practice, as far as together, so they're still trying to figure it out and build some chemistry amongst themselves.”

JCSU, which has four players averaging double figures paced by Jamauri Bryant and Trey Pettigrew at 17.8 points per game, could use more consistency. The Golden Bulls split results last week with a loss at Lenoir-Rhyne and the win against ECSU. The week prior, they swept Virginia University of Lynchburg 119-75 and Morris College 97-80 on campus.

“We turned the ball over too much” against Morris, Banks said. “We’d like to have closed the game little bit better than what we did. We saw a little press, had two point guards out at one time. Didn’t get us set up in the right alignment for the press offense, got us rattled. [Morris] did a great job staying in the game … fighting, not quitting.”

It was a microcosm of what JCSU has been dealing with early. The goal is to mesh the players and Banks’ philosophy during the nonconference portion of the schedule, which continues Wednesday at Lincoln Memorial and South Carolina Central Christian Saturday on campus. 

“I felt like we didn’t continue to play for 40 minutes” against Morris, Banks said, “and that’s been a challenge as far as during the course of the season. Early on, it’s just completing the game, playing 40 minutes of basketball.”

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