'Learning how we can win as a team is huge for us': UWGB men's basketball celebrates a milestone road victory
GREEN BAY – It’s difficult to blame Marcus Hall for being nervous in his collegiate debut for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team earlier this month.
The former D.C. Everest standout played in some big games during a high school career in which he twice was named the Wisconsin Valley Conference player of the year and was a Mr. Basketball finalist for the best in the state as a senior.
But he never played in front of more than 13,000 fans and against a Power Five team like he did when he was in the starting lineup Nov. 6 for UWGB’s opener at Iowa State.
“Oh, yeah, there were a lot of nerves,” Hall said. “It was just amplified because of where we were playing. It was crazy. Super energetic. Crazy amount of fans.
“But even if it wasn’t at a huge place like that, I still would have been nervous. I mean, it was my first college game. It’s what I’ve been hoping to play in basically since I started playing basketball.”
The 6-foot-6 forward has settled in nicely the past couple of weeks. The games, his daily schedule and everything that goes into being a college player is beginning to feel normal.
It’s nothing like it was during high school, when he often was the best player on the court and could dominate just by showing up to play.
There is so much more at this level, more than just the usual adjustments to the speed of the game and the size and strength of opposing players.
He quickly learned how aware he must be of the mental side of the game, how he needs to be locked in when it comes to watching film and focusing on the scouting report for an upcoming opponent.
Not everyone enjoys that side of basketball, but Hall loves it.
He believes it has helped his game. He feels more prepared and confident each night.
The way Hall goes about his business has not gone unnoticed. It’s not unusual for UWGB coach Sundance Wicks to receive a text from his young pupil, asking to come in and watch film together.
Win or lose, play well or not so great. It doesn’t matter. The texts always come.
“It’s the mentality that separates guys, and it’s the consistency that separates guys,” Wicks said. “For Marcus, he is probably one of the most consistent human beings I’ve been around already as a freshman. He has great habits. He is very even-keeled. He’s not an emotional guy. You can see the competitiveness in him.
“When you get those kids that are not emotional, extremely consistent and highly competitive, that’s the making of a special guy.”
Hall has started UWGB’s first five games entering a contest Saturday against St. Thomas at the Resch Center.
He played a career-high 31 minutes the first game against Iowa State and scored a career-high 12 points the last time out in a loss to UC Riverside on Tuesday.
He is averaging 5.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 27.2 minutes, helping to pick up the slack after veteran forward Will Eames injured an ankle in a preseason game against St. Norbert College and missed the first three games.
Eames has come off the bench his first two outings, but his return could mean a reduction in minutes for Hall as Eames works his way back.
Starting or coming off the bench doesn’t matter to Hall, and it really doesn’t matter to Wicks, who plays matchups and wants his guys prepared to contribute whether it’s at the beginning of a game or after the first substitutions.
“He was out a couple weeks, so I had to play a lot more,” Hall said of Eames. “It won’t be as big of a role as I have had to do, but I’m just really trying to do whatever I can when I’m in. When I had to play really big minutes, I was fine with it. I felt like I was ready.
“But even now when I won’t play as huge minutes, it’s not a big deal. I just try to do my best when I’m in.”
UWGB celebrates significant moment
Winning a nonconference road game against a DI opponent might not seem like a big deal, but it is when you haven’t done it in four years.
UWGB’s 54-53 overtime win at Montana State on Monday was its first nonconference road win over a DI team since a victory at Northern Illinois in December 2019.
That also was the last season UWGB finished with a winning record overall, going 17-16 under former coach Linc Darner.
“It was huge,” Hall said. “I saw that on Twitter after the game (about the nonconference win), and was like, ‘Wow.’ Just for us as a team, that was huge. We know with the way we play we are going to be in a lot of close games, especially on the road.
“Just to kind of get that feeling of learning how to win, our coaches always talk to us about learning how to win. Learning how we can win as a team is huge for us.”
One of UWGB’s first goals under the new coaching staff is to put together a team that can win away from home, whether it’s a conference game or nonconference.
The Phoenix went a combined 4-41 on the road the last three seasons under former coach Will Ryan and interim coach Freddie Owens after Ryan was fired in January, although Owens led UWGB to its most memorable win of 2022-23 when it upset in-state rival and Horizon League foe UW-Milwaukee at UWM Panther Arena in February.
“One thing that happens is when defense travels, you are always going to have a chance,” Wicks said. “Our defense traveled. We probably played our best complete defensive game of the year as a team. To do that against a quality opponent, for us, was bigger for our belief than people will realize.”
UWGB must improve at the free throw line
A big eyesore early in the season is looking at the free throw column.
The Phoenix entered Saturday shooting 55.2% from the line, finishing at 50% or worse in three of the first five games.
That’s not going to cut it.
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“It’s always about time and score, free throws are different when there is a little bit more pressure on the line,” Wicks said. “A lot of our young guys, or these guys playing Division I for the first time, they want to win. The care factor is really high, and because they have a high care factor, they put a different type of pressure on them.
“It’s just another shot. Another free throw. But at the end of the day, they care so much that sometimes you get a little bit tighter in those moments. For our guys it’s being in those moments, feeling those moments and then getting used to those moments.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: D.C. Everest's Marcus Hall gets up to speed with UWGB men's basketball
