MCC Basketball begins Monday with tough early slate
For McCook Community College fans expecting an early non-conference start to the men's basketball schedule filled with soft opponents, that won't be the case. Eight of 11 games on the slate for the MCC men in November come against teams that are rated or received votes in the National Junior College Athletic Association's Top 25 polls.
Earlier this spring, second-year coach Jacob Brandl, took MCC to its first Region IX Tournament Championship first since 1997. MCC went 14-11 in Brandl's first year. He believes a challenging schedule is all part of toughening the team for the ultimate goal of winning championships, and he's looking forward to seeing how this group of players respond.
"We'll find out where we're at pretty fast, and I'm excited for it," said Brandl. He knew the schedule was going to be tough -- especially with some early weekend road tournaments -- but he scheduled those games to set MCC up for region. "I just think our region is really tough right now and we need to get battle-tested early, to be able to play the way we want to later in the season."
That imposing schedule includes Division I opponents: No. 2 Indian Hills Community College (Nov. 19 at Ottumwa, Iowa), No. 10 Dodge City (Nov. 16 at home), No. 15 College of Southern Idaho (Nov. 27 at Twin Falls, Idaho) and three games against teams that received votes for the top 25 in Colby Community College (two early home-and-home games) and Hutchinson Community College (Nov. 9 at Great Bend, Kan.).
Also on the slate are a pair of teams ranked in the Division II Top 25: No. 18 Central Community College (Nov. 23 at Columbus) and No. 19 North Central Missouri (Nov. 20 at the Indian Hills Tournament in Ottumwa, Iowa).
The three other November games are against teams with recent winning credentials. Laramie County Community College (Nov. 6 at home, 4 p.m.) was the top seed in the Region IX north division earlier this spring going 8-2 in the north and 11-12 overall. Eastern Wyoming (Nov. 5 at home, 7:30 p.m.) was the second seed in the north finishing 15-9 a season ago. Barton Community College (at the Barton Booster Club Classic in Great Bend, Kan., Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.) was 11-3 on their home court last season when they went 16-9 overall.
"Right out of the gates we're opening up with a tough opponent in Colby, they got some votes for the top 25 and we'll face them twice in the first week and then our first weekend is back-to-back at home against Eastern Wyoming and Laramie County, the top two seeds last year from Region IX North," said MCC Coach Jacob Brandl.
Four sophomores from the team that finished runner-up in the Region IX tournament, return to the court and Brandl is expecting a lot from the quartet of 6-0 point guard Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass), 6-2 guard DaMiene Boles Jr. (Dayton, Ohio), 6-7 wing Julian Lual (Calgary, Alberta), and 6-8 post Martin Poznanovic (Uzice, Serbia).
"All four of those guys have given us really good leadership and their presence has been felt in how we do things and holding guys accountable," Bandl said. Perry, Boles and Lual were all voted co-captains.
Perry, (Wareham, Mass.) was named to the Omaha World Herald all-Midlands team, first team all-Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference, and third team all-Region IX. The second-year transfer from Laramie County Community College played in 23 games in the spring, averaging 13.9 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. He shot 44.1 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from the 3-point line. He scored a season-high 32 points March 7 at Southeast Community College and scored 68 points in four Region IX tournament games (17.0 points a game average.)
Lual started in all 25 games in his freshman campaign, averaging 10.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists. He shot 45.8 percent from the field and 29.1 from the 3-point line. He scored a career-high 24 points in the Region IX tournament when MCC knocked off top-seed LCCC in Cheyenne April 8. Following the season, he was an honorable mention pick for the World-Herald's all-Midlands squad.
"Julian is really picking up traction from a recruiting standpoint," Brandl said. "He had a great summer and came back in really great shape and he's looked in mid-season form right away which was good to see."
Poznanovic appeared in 10 games for MCC, scoring 29 points during the season, grabbing 22 rebounds, averaging just under five minutes per game, but Brandl expects a bigger role for his Serbian post.
"Martin has taken huge steps from last year to this year as far as his skill development and getting more comfortable playing in our system and knowing what to expect," Brandl said.
Boles played in 10 games and averaged 8.1 minutes as a freshman and 3.5 points per game, shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from the 3-point line.
"Those guys are the ones we'll lean on because they've gone through it," Brandl said.
Despite only having four returners, the roster is filled with players who have experience resulting from transfers and a few who received another year of eligibility because of the Covid-19 exemption.
"What's nice about our team is I feel we have an older team, even some new guys that we brought in have played college basketball before at some level," Brandl said.
D'Andre Dennis (6-5 forward, Charlotte, N.C.) is a transfer from Grace Christian University where he averaged 12.0 points per game in limited action.
"He's a new guy for us and was voted team captain by his peers. So to be a new guy and have that impact right away and have the respect from your teammates is saying something," Brandl said. "He's one of our better shooters and we look for him to be able to stretch the floor for us as a 6-5, three-four man playing multiple spots."
Sophomore guard Beni Fungula (6-4, Stockholm, Sweden) is a transfer from Williston State where he played in 15 games averaging 11.4 points per game, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
"He's another older sophomore who got the year back because of Covid-19 and we're excited about him," Brandl said. "He's a guy who can guard multiple spots on the floor. Offensively and can play the point if we get in a bind and can play the off-guard." Brandl said. "Fungala can definitely guard one-through-four, being 6-4, and he helps us get better defensively compared to last year's group, and helps get us bigger at more spots."
Two players have emerged from the shooting guard position. Trey Summers, 6-3, is the lone true freshman (Greeley, Colo.) and Mykel Thomas is a 6-3 freshman guard (Orlando. Fla.).
"From a shooting standpoint, I've been impressed with how Trey Summers has come to campus and shot the ball well in practices and our jamborees and the same thing with Mykel," Brandl said. "Those two guys are being looked upon to be knock-down shooters for us and D'Andre Dennis too."
The coach said one recruiting objective was to get bigger and longer at the wing spot and he's hoping he has that in Shemar Dennis, 6-5 (Worcester, Mass.) and Cameron Nyarko, 6-7 (London, England), transfer from Casper College. Dennis is a transfer freshman from Clarendon College (Texas) who sat out his freshman year with a torn ACL, and Nyarko, is a transfer from Casper College, where he was limited to six games this spring.
"Shemar has looked good in practice, his size at 6-5 and his athleticism has been good for us, same thing with Cameron, who got the year back because of the Covid-19 exemption, at his size gives us length and versatility as a three/four man and can do a lot of things with the basketball," Brandl said.
At the post spots this season will be Ezichi Kalu, 6-11 sophomore (Lagos, Nigeria) and returning sophomore Martin Poznanovic.
"You add a 6-11 guy, it always helps in the middle and adds some things we just couldn't do a year ago from a size stand point, and along with Martin we're going to be able to go inside and get some things in the middle. That's another aspect that we had to get better at," Brandl said.
Brandl said after getting his recruits on campus, seeing them in scrimmage games and practice, he believes MCC will be a lot better around the rim and in getting to the rim.
"I've also been pleased with how intelligent our team has been as far as retaining information, that's something you are never quite sure about until you get them all here and together," Brandl said. He adds that the coaches have been able to put in a lot more than in years past and he feels that just comes from having an "older" group and having more guys that have played college basketball before.
"Discipline is always a big thing I like to see in my teams, I hope we see that on the court both offensively and defensively and what we want to do schematically," Brandl said.
He likes the term "tougher together" and hopes this is a group that doesn't turn the ball over, competes, and plays hard every night."
"We want to do all the little things right -- especially on the defensively side and I think this year we're going to try and hang our hat on our defensive ability," Brandl said.
The December schedule has just three games all on the road, starting with a swing at Eastern Wyoming and Laramie County CC on Dec. 3-4 and concluding the semester Dec. 7 at Highland Community College (Kansas)
Following the holiday break, MCC will return to the court Jan. 8 at home against Central Community College with eight January games and seven in February. Those games are mostly Region IX south games or Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference games including defending Region IX champion and preseason No. 24 Northwestern Junior College (Jan. 15 at Sterling; Feb. 5 at home). MCC will host North Platte Jan. 25 and play the Knights on the road Feb. 15.
For complete schedules, rosters, photo galleries, statistics and more please visit the MCC Athletics Web Site at: https://mccookcc.prestosports.com/landing/index