By MILES SOUZA
As the winter season is upon us, the Beloit College Basketball teams are in full swing, preparing for the upcoming season. Both teams will open their seasons on the road, the men’s team on Friday and the women’s team on Wednesday.
The women’s team ended last season with a record of 8-17 and a 4-12 record in conference. They showed great improvement from the year prior, where they were held winless in conference play.
The Bucs are a great defensive team and will look to create more success on the defensive end. They created a lot of offense by creating turnovers and causing their opponents to make mistakes.
Beloit had the second best turnover margin in the Midwest Conference last season, meaning they created more turnovers per game than their opponents. They also lead the conference in steals with 12.5 per game.
They will look for big contributions from senior guard Elizabeth Kalk ’24, who led the team with an average of 15 points per game. She is a great shot creator and what we call a “bucket getter.”
Senior guard and high school teammate of Kalk, Hannah Welte ’24, will be leaned on for scoring this year, after she averaged 13 points per game last year, to go along with 79 steals. She is a gnat on defense and creates a lot of fast break points.
The team did lose their third and fourth leading scorers. They will look to bench players along with the freshman talent they brought in to fill those voids. Lucky for them, they brought in a large class with talent and potential.
On the men’s side, they finished last season with a record of 7-18 and a conference record of 3-13. They showed a little improvement, improving their overall record by 2, but kept the same conference record.
Beloit ended the year eighth in points per game in the Midwest Conference, fourth in points against, and eighth in margin.
The Bucs struggled to score in many games last year, with a stagnant offense and the lack of a pure scorer at the end of the shot clock.
Senior center Azeez Ganiyu ’24 led the team in points and rebounds with 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The key to getting Ganiyu scoring more and being more efficient is running a system to get him the ball closer to the block. He is an elite scorer around the basket, but needs to get the ball closer to the paint to eliminate chances of double teams.
The other key to Beloit’s success is getting their third leading scorer, shooting guard Brian Rusch ’24, more catch and shoot opportunities off of off ball screens. He has shown fantastic potential and skill in these scenarios.
However, last year the Bucs only looked at these chances once the game was out of reach and nearing the end of regulation. Finding these opportunities earlier in the game will help their offense flourish.
They also picked up a couple new freshmen and brought back a junior who missed last season. Each has shown potential and talent to help the team especially on the offensive end.
Both teams will look to start the season off hot on the road this week.
Featured Image: Elizabeth Kalk’24, Beloit College
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