Group shot of this academic year’s Men’s Basketball team and coaches. Photo by Lake Land College Athletics.
This fall, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will open up their season since their seasons ended this past month. The women’s team will open their regular season on the road on Thursday, November 2nd, against the Muskegon Community College Lady Jayhawks at Muskegon, Michigan.
They will play one more game on the road, Saturday, November 4th, as they will be hosted by the Marian-Ancilla College Lady Knights in Indianapolis, before their home opener. Their home opener is on Friday, November 10th as they will host the Olney Central College Lady Blue Knights at the Fieldhouse at 7 PM.
Conversely, the men’s team will open their regular season at home on Wednesday, November 1st, as they will host the Southeastern Illinois College Falcons at the Fieldhouse at 7 PM. Additionally, their first road game will be in Quincy, Illinois, as they will participate in the John Wood Classic. Their true road game will be Tuesday, November 28, as they will be hosted by the Danville Community College Vikings at Danville.
Both teams are gearing up for this season, looking to win not only the regular season conference title, but also the conference tournament title and more importantly, the national championship. The women’s team under head coach, David Johnson, who is in his 25th year coaching on campus, has recently won the national championship in 2021, as well as winning numerous awards along with the team, consistently ranking in the top #25 each year under his tutelage.
On the other hand, the men’s team under the leadership of head coach, Julian Larry, along with assistant coach, Brian Egejuru, are attempting to lead the team to the top of the Great Rivers Conference for the first time since the 2013-14 season, when Cedric Brown was the coach.
This past season, the women’s team finished with a 25-7 record, winning the regular season title. However, their season ended early, as they fell to the Danville Community College Lady Vikings, 65-62, at the Great River Conference tournament title held at the Fieldhouse on Sunday, March 12th.
Johnson explained that the strengths of last year’s team was “outside shooting, great ball movement, excellent point guard play, communication, especially on the defensive end and overall team defense.” In regards to weakness, Johnson mentioned “rebounding, team speed and depth. We did not play a deep line-up last year.”
Johnson stated “the team has an opportunity this year of being good from last year. We currently have six sophomores and ten new freshmen. We have to learn quickly since we are inexperienced. The schedule beginning in November will help prepare us for games in December onward. Hopefully, we will be able to compete for the conference title again.” Finally, Johnson concluded “we plan to play pretty fast this year and have a lot of people come out and see us.”
The men’s team finished the previous year with a 17-15 record, as they fell to the Vincennes University Trail Blazers, 79-67, in the second round of the Great Rivers Conference tournament. Egejuru, the current assistant coach, played under the guidance of Larry, when Larry was one of the assistant coaches at Dakota College in Bottineau, North Dakota.
He explained that the strengths of last year’s team was “our bigs (center and power forward). They both averaged double-double (double figures in both points and rebounds) during the course of the year. We (the team) were pretty strong in the paint.” He stated that the weakness from last year “was outside perimeter shooting.” He stated that our biggest competition so far this season up to this point is “John A. Logan Volunteers since they are the defending national champions. They are the #1 team in the country, and we play them twice this season, since they are in the same conference as we are.”
He stated that as one of the assistant coaches, he specializes in “player development, making sure the guys are reaching their playing and academic potential. I help the players get their shots up on the offensive end.”
Continue to root for the Lakers, and come out to all the home games at the Laker Gym in the Fieldhouse.
