SPORTS ALMANAC

The Dynamic Trio

Seniors Charged With Returning Basketball Team to Winning Ways

by Michael R. Haskins

Brandon Gay is a man of few words. When asked what the goals of the men’s basketball team are this year, his reply is simple: “To win games.” When asked if he has any individual goals for the season, he repeats: “To win games.”

Gay is a senior, so you’d think he might be focused on making a name for himself, especially when the chances are pretty good that he’ll play professionally after college. Personal glory, however, isn’t on the radar screen this season. Instead, Gay and the team’s two other seniors, Brice Vounang and Brett Melton, have their sights set on making the Toreros into a competitive, winning team.

It will be a challenge. The Toreros won just four games last year, in part because of injuries, in part because they lacked depth, in part because they just didn’t play with the intensity they needed to win. This year, their teammates, their coach, their fans, everyone, is counting on the trio of seniors to erase the memories of last year and regain respect for the program.

“Everybody’s looking at us to do the job, and that’s how it should be,” says Vounang, the 6-foot-8 center. “At every practice and every game, we have to show that we’re here to win.”

If the team needs an exemplary player, Vounang is it. One of the few bright spots in last year’s campaign, Vounang, a transfer student from Eastern Oklahoma State Junior College, averaged almost 17 points per game, was tabbed for the First Team All-West Coast Conference and was selected as the WCC’s Newcomer of the Year.

“I couldn’t be more proud of what Brice did in his first year at USD,” says head coach Brad Holland, who is in his 11th year at USD. “He showed a lot of courage and fight, and it’s clear from the recognition that the coaches in the league hold him in very high regard.”

They should, because this fall Vounang picked up right where he left off. Despite last year’s poor showing, the Toreros were invited to this year’s preseason National Invitational Tournament, a signal that the team’s improved depth and injury-free roster is receiving positive attention. Although the team lost in the first round to the No. 10-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 80-69, the Toreros kept the game competitive and Vounang matched a career best with 28 points, while Gay, the squad’s 6-foot-8 forward, added 17 points of his own.

In early season play, the Toreros posted a 8-5 record and in late December won three straight home games with decisive victories over Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona and UC Santa Barbara. Vounang and Gay led in the team in points per game, while Melton continued his outstanding three-point shooting.

The tale of the season, however, will truly be told in conference play, which began in January. The seniors believe the team is up to the challenge.

“We had a tough, challenging non-conference schedule, but we think that only prepares us even more for conference play,” says Melton, the team’s 6-foot-5 guard, who ranked 27th in the nation last year in 3-point percentage. “Every day, somebody else is stepping up to raise the level of competition, so the team’s chemistry is better than it’s ever been.”

As their coach points out, however, chemistry is dependent on ingredients. Although Holland put something new into the mix this year — recruiting newcomers Michael Kirkpatrick and Michael Shepherd, among others, and even adding new uniforms — and the team has its top defensive player, junior Corey Belser, back after a knee injury, the coach says that his seniors will be the catalyst.

“I’ve worked as a coach to create a different environment this season, but it’s no secret that we need the three seniors to take care of business, on the floor and off,” says Holland. “They need to be model student-athletes to set the example for their teammates. If they put in the work and demonstrate a positive, winning attitude, then we’ll be the best team we can be.”

A lot of responsibility? Sure, but these guys have been playing their entire careers for this moment, when they’re the leaders, when they’re the ones who carry the fate of the team on their shoulders. What will they do about it? Ask Brandon Gay.