UE’s Summer Stretch

picture 163 1 UEs summer stretch

Kavon Lacey laughed about it this week, and truth be told he and his University of Evansville basketball teammates might have initially thought it was a joke.

But yoga has, nonetheless, become a part of their offseason routine.

“It was the coaches’ idea,” the senior guard said. “Coach Simmons wanted us to do it. When we first tried it, it was horrible — we were all sore. But now everybody enjoys it.”

The Aces didn’t enjoy last year’s 9-21 season — far from it. so while the thought of yoga might have had them scratching their heads at first, they’re quite serious about improving on that mark, even if it means trying something new and different to turn things around.

With the entire team on campus for summer classes, daily weight lifting and pick-up games, but organized basketball instruction from coaches still months away, it’s the perfect time to mix things up, try out something new and work on their team dynamic in a different and original way. in comes yoga as part of the workouts for eight returning players — counting center Clint Hopf, who is a bystander for now while recovering from knee surgery, but is also one of four returning starters. The four newcomers include Derek Johnson, who played in one game as a freshman last year but needed knee surgery and was granted a medical hardship so that he has four seasons of eligibility remaining.

Freshman Jordan Jahr has already established himself as a “lights-out” shooter according to Lacey, and junior college transfer Matt Peeler is expected to help offset the team’s most significant loss, that of transfer James Haarsma and his 10.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

But the yoga program, which is designed to make the players more flexible and as a result help reduce the many injuries that plagued the Aces a year ago, is hardly the only new aspect of Division I college basketball for them.

“It’s going good,” said junior college swingman Kenny Harris, the most versatile of the additions. “The weights are different than juco, it’s harder, so I’m getting stronger already.”

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“We’re in the weight room every day, getting bigger, putting on weight,” said junior Denver Holmes, one of the veterans who averaged 10.7 points per game last year and is expected to be a leader on this year’s team. “And we’re on the court five days a week, plus everybody’s working on their own game on the side, too.”

So far he likes what he’s seen.

“It’s good,” Holmes said. “Everybody’s clicking, the chemistry’s here and we’re just really busting our you know.”

In the weight room, on the court and even on the yoga mats.

“Everybody knows what happened last year, and it’s just driving people to work harder,” Holmes added. “I think this has been the most competitive summer I’ve been here.”

UE’s summer stretch