Davis’ plan works, but a lack of depth threatens results
Guard Demontrae Jefferson swipes the ball from an opponent’s hand and glides up court as fast as his 5-7 frame will carry him.
He surveys the court and dishes to junior guard Derrick Bruce, who lines up and knocks down a 3.
Through an undefeated start to Southwestern Athletic Conference play, Jefferson’s feeding Bruce for buckets has become a regular sight for Texas Southern (3-13, 3-0 SWAC). The Tigers’ success affirms coach Mike Davis’s philosophy of scheduling tough non-conference opponents to help harden his teams for SWAC play.
Jefferson and 7-2 center Trayvon Reed were expected to dominate this season, but it’s another Tiger — Bruce — whose elevated play might help TSU secure its fourth SWAC title in the last five years.
Bruce cranks it up
Bruce is averaging 11.4 points per game, well below Jefferson’s SWACleading 23.5-point average. Still, Bruce’s performance through the early conference games has been impressive: 28 points against Southern on New Year’s Day, 25 against Alcorn State and 22 against Prairie View A&M.
“He was talented scoring the ball,” Davis said. “(Through) his adjustment playing on and off the ball and playing with (Jefferson) and Donte (Clark), he’s started to get a feel for his role and he’s settled in.”
Bruce’s emergence is more critical after the Tigers, who weathered the nation’s toughest nonconference schedule this season, began SWAC competition down two starters — forward Kevin Scott and guard Robert Lewis — who are likely sidelined for the remainder of the season with leg injuries.
“We knew we had a good team,” Davis said. “We knew we had guys who could score the ball and we knew it was going to be challenging in non-conference and so a lot of guys, where it was challenging in non-conference, now they can score at this level.
“The players now are just as talented as (Scott and Lewis), but what we lost was depth. We just can’t lose anybody else.”
The stars have stepped up to carry the load. Reed, who was expected to be a defensive force in league play, has lived up to his billing. The Auburn transfer is averaging close to a doubledouble (9.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game) while averaging five blocks per game against SWAC opponents — he had nine against Southern.
“Trayvon is really good,” Davis said. “We’ve got to get him to play harder and faster.”
Jefferson missed the BYU game in December, but he has spearheaded the SWAC’s top-scoring offense despite dealing with the death of his father in a fatal shooting last month.
“I would say we’re a five or six (out of 10),” Davis said of his team’s showing. “To be good around the country and to be where we want to be by March, you need to be about a nine or 10.”
After a blowout win in its SWAC opener over Southern — a victory that gave Davis his 100th win at the school — TSU overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to beat Alcorn State and then held off a late push by Prairie View.
“We’re just OK, not great,” Davis said. “We give up a lot of points but we score a lot of points. We knew we were going to be — not down defensively but — challenged. We don’t have a lot of guys that made the commitment to it. To play defense you need to make a total commitment and we did in non-conference about 15 minutes per game, but you have to play for 30 to 35 minutes a game. We’ll go up then kind of relax on defense.”
It’s something Davis hopes to correct through film study. He sees the Tigers approaching their potential.
“It’s about picking up our pace, taking the rebound on the go … just picking up our tempo,” Jefferson said. “Last game we kind of slowed down but with a little spurt we had a 20-point lead, so he wants us to see that on film and realize that’s how we play best, with speed.”
Jackson State up next
TSU should be challenged Saturday by Jackson State (7-10, 4-0) before wrapping up a short road trip at Grambling State (512, 1-3) on Monday.
“We’ve had careless turnovers late,” Davis said. It’s about staying locked in for 30 minutes, really 40 minutes but you can’t get to 40 before you get to 30. Offensively, we’re so good that at this level we can get by sometimes.”