By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Only two weeks ago, the FHSU men’s basketball team took No. 1 Washburn to overtime in a game in which the Tigers had a promising lead late in the fourth quarter before ultimately falling to the Ichabods. A poor-shooting night against UCM resulted in a pair of weekend losses which were compounded by two more defeats last weekend at the hands of Northeastern State and Arkansas Fort-Smith. Now, with their backs against the wall, FHSU will try to bounce back against Emporia State and Newman at home this weekend.
Before the loss to Washburn, the Tigers were ranked 2nd in the MIAA, but within two weeks, they have fallen back to 9th. With a 15-8 overall record and a 7-7 mark in the MIAA record, the Tigers are still just two games behind the 5th team in the conference. This season, the battle for an MIAA Tournament berth is closer than ever, and FHSU head coach Mark Johnson said that the MIAA is the best conference in the nation “by a margin” this season.
Discussing his team’s losing streak, Johnson said the loss to Washburn might have influenced the very next game, but that the two road losses resulted simply from playing strong opponents at home.
“I don’t know how much it really had to do with this last road trip; we’ve played a pretty hard schedule during this stretch. Central Missouri, Washburn, and Arkansas-Fort Smith are probably three of the top 15 teams in the country. So it was hard competition, and we needed to play at our best, and we haven’t been playing at our best,” Johnson said. “We’re not playing at our best right now. Our schedule is really difficult, and to win these games, you have to be playing well. Hopefully coming home and having a little bit of a reset here. These are some games we really need to win this week.”
The Tigers have relied heavily on Dan Mukuna this season, as the German forward has had a breakout year, leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 17.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. However, after scoring 19 points against Washburn, he has managed just 10, 10, and 9 points in his last three games.
Helping to carry the burden of Mukuna’s lack of typical productivity, a player who has stepped up for the Tigers is senior guard Muhamed Kante, who has scored 18 and 11 points in his last two games.
Contributing on both offense and defense, Kante, who usually comes off the bench for FHSU, spoke about what helped him make the transition and increase his influence in games.
“Honestly, Coach has been telling me all year, just stay aggressive. You could get anywhere on the floor, so just stay aggressive, shoot the ball,” Kante said. “And with the defense, he kind of preaches defense every day as something you have to do to be on the court, you have to be able to guard someone. You’ve got to be able to play hard and execute. But with the offense, he keeps telling me, stay aggressive, shoot the ball.”
With every game playing a pivotal role in postseason aspirations, Johnson said, as far as he is concerned, it doesn’t matter how it happens, but this weekend is all about just getting the wins.
“I think the big message this week is it doesn’t matter how it happens. It just has to happen. We have to win the game [and] an’t get caught up in what’s happening to you individually during the game this week,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to find a way to win these games. Doesn’t matter how. If it’s pretty, ugly, average, great, bad, just win the games. And I think our guys will hopefully be ready to play, and we’ll put on a good performance this week.”
FHSU and Emporia will tip at 7:30 tonight, while the Tigers and Jets will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday.