Varsity Boys Basketball defeated Willow Glen High School 55-45 on Saturday, Nov. 25 in its second game of the season. Although the game was fairly even during the first half, MVHS was able to outscore WGHS in the second half by moving the ball more effectively.
Assistant coach Gokul Pillai says the team dynamic has improved since its last game against Harker High School and now works more cohesively. Pillai believes this improvement was crucial to winning the game.
“I think we’re slowly improving game by game,” Pillai said. “Learning to do the little things like communicating matters a lot.”
Although MVHS maintained a lead in the first half of the game, junior and center Stanley Du notes that the team could not match the speed of the players from WGHS. As a result, MVHS initially struggled on defense to prevent the opposing team from scoring.
“At the beginning there were some defensive lapses from everyone and WGHS was moving well off the ball so we couldn’t keep up,” Du said. “Once we really started dialing in, we were able to get into a rhythm and start knocking down shots.”
Despite the closely matched competition in the first half of the game, Du says that the halftime conversation with the coaches helped the team improve in its second-half performance. Pillai says the team focused on better communication and refining their team dynamic — something the team needs to continue working on in future games.
“Learning off-ball movement is important,” Pillai said. “When the ball’s not on your hands, not just standing around, [but] learning how to be smart about spacing.”
Senior and point guard Jacob Nakamura says the team will implement specific training during practice to target weaker areas of its performance. By analyzing its weaknesses and honing in on specific means of improvement, he believes the team will be better equipped to defeat tougher opponents in future games.
“After every game, we go over what we did wrong and improve every day and during practice,” Nakamura said. “I think over time, especially after today’s game, we will get better.”
Given that this was one of the team’s first games, Pillai has high hopes for the season, a sentiment shared by Du and Nakamura. Pillai says that given their talented team, increased teamwork, rhythm and coordination will set them up for success.
“I think we have the talent to do a lot of the things we want to do,” Pillai said. “It’s just about getting everyone to work together. If we continue to build off this, we’re going to be good.”
