MUNCIE, Ind.--- First year head coach, Michael Lewis, believes that if his team wants to stay competitive this year, they need to stay defensive minded.
"I believe all the good teams that I’ve been a part of as an assistant coach we were defensive minded. You’re gonna win on the defensive end, you can control that,” Lewis said.
Coming from the UCLA Bruins, Coach Lewis garnered a 68-30 record within the three years there as well as a final four appearance in March Madness last year. He looks to keep that winning atmosphere around him and started off strong on Monday night with a convincing 109-39 win over Earlham. Senior guard, Demarius Jacobs, noticed the change in his team's play and attributes some of that to the new coach on campus.
“Honestly we just tightened up and just wanted to play a little harder, I don’t know why, but might be the coaching staff,” Jacobs said.
Looking forward to the future with this team, Coach Lewis always knows there's some room for improvement. Starting the season out 1-0 against the Quakers and leading in every major statistical category, most notably being: Rebounds (53-30), Steals (14-2) and Blocks (10-0). Although leading in these categories, Lewis still wants to see improvement within his guys.
“It’s hard to pick on our defense when you give up 39 points, but I felt like we gave up some offensive rebounds, some breakdowns and some guarding the ball that we can improve on,” Lewis said.
Coach Lewis and the cardinals looked to improve on their defense Saturday against Indiana State.
Contact Maxwell Robson with comments at maxwell.robson@bsu.edu
