By Jose Rohdin
The Brooklyn College men’s basketball team won all three of their games against Borough of Manhattan Community College on Friday in their first scrimmage of the year.
“Listen, you are going to start running 100 miles per hour, and everything we practiced for the past two weeks, you’re going to forget because it’s a new situation,” Head Coach Jeffrey Jean-Baptiste told his team before the game.
However, the start of the first quarter did not go as planned, and the Bulldogs fell into a quick 8-0 deficit to the Panthers. Jean-Baptiste was forced to call an early timeout to talk to his players.
“I told them how it was going to go,” he responded when asked about the reason behind the timeout. “I didn’t want it to happen like that, but it has happened. When I called them I told them ‘Listen,’ this is just what I said ‘Calm down and understand that even though the game is going faster, that we can still think.’ Once I said that we were able to calm down and able to go on a run and pretty much take care of the whole half.”
Jean-Baptise was confident about the upcoming season following the scrimmage and discussed what the team has to do to reach a championship.
“I feel we are in a good position right now. We have a lot of experience returning. We just have to make sure everything goes according to plan,” Jean-Baptiste said. “Meaning players stay healthy, eligible, and everyone gets better day-by-day. As long as we do those three things, we should be in the position that allows us to possibly win a championship.”
For Bulldogs point guard, Anthony McClean, a championship is on his radar going into next season. When asked about the team’s play in the back and forth scrimmages, McClean said that the team played well and showed that they could push through adversity.
“We are built for this,” said McClean. “We practice hard, our practices are intense. So when it comes to the moments when we are down 8-0 like in the first half, we know how to push back, and we know how to fight through.”
McClean caught fire in the second quarter, making four straight three-pointers. He only missed two three-pointers out of nine in total. In the CUNYAC Men’s basketball championship game against Medgar Evers College Cougars last season, McClean exploded for 41 points going 11 of 14 from beyond the arc.
“It was regular,” he said. “Honestly. I practice on my jump shot every day, and I just want to win. I will do whatever it takes to win.”
The Bulldogs won that game 92-69 on McClean’s efforts.
After a 15-13 season last year, the Bulldogs are confident about winning the championship this year. Last year did not go as planned for the team, but they are hoping, with some new faces, to improve on last year’s record.
The team played full-court press defense throughout most of the scrimmage. WBCR asked Jean-Baptistie if that was something they plan on doing this season.
“That is our strong suit, defensive pressure, we are quick,” said Jean-Baptistie. “So we want to create that tempo not just for defense, but also for our offense. We cause disruption, and we started doing it last year, and we were pretty decent at it. I think this year we can be even better,” he continued.
On offense, they heavily focused on playing in transition, and getting shooters like McClean open for three-pointers and easy buckets off of layups. The full-court press was able to help them, as they caused more turnovers.
“That is what the pressed is designed to do,” explained Coach Jean-Baptisie. “To make teams play at a speed that they might not be accustomed to. We run hard, we run fast every day, and I try to teach them to play smart while playing fast. When teams are not comfortable at playing at that speed, they might make mistakes.”
The Bulldogs are set to officially begin their season on Tuesday, November 12 at home in the West Quad Gymnasium against the William Patterson University Pioneers.