University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Basketball Concludes First Week Of Practice
10/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The team's two-plus hour workout capped off the opening week of preseason drills which began on Oct. 14. And through the first week of work, second-year Head Coach Larry Eustachy has been pleased with the overall progression of the program.
"There's been some improvement over the course of the week," Eustachy said. "We have been hampered a bit by three or four guys with some injuries, but we've worked through it. I'm cautiously optimistic about this group. We have a lot of immaturity, but we play hard. Now, we are just trying to speed up the learning process. Overall, it was a good week."
While the team has two preseason exhibition games on Nov. 6 (University of Calgary) and Nov. 14 (Faulkner University), work remains focused on the season-opening BP Top of the World Classic, which will be held Nov. 17-20 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
"Our goal is to try to win the tournament in Alaska," Eustachy said. "So we really are not worried about these exhibition games. We are trying to set the base for a team that could compete in the upper half in this league. We're setting a base with defending, rebounding and sharing the ball."
The Golden Eagles finished the 2004-05 season with an 11-17 overall record and a 2-14 mark in Conference USA play.
