The UTRGV Men’s Basketball team began official preseason practice on Sept. 28th in the UTRGV fieldhouse in preparation of the 2021-2022 season. The Fall 2021 season will be head coach Matt Figger’s first traditional season with UTRGV.
Head coach Matt Figger took over the mantle of head coach after the passing of beloved coach Lew Hill in February 2021. Since his hiring, the team has had summer workouts and some at the beginning of the fall semester.
The main focus of this preseason practice is to work on chemistry and how the team will work together. The team also has key players out at the moment, learning to work with what’s available is also on the agenda for this fall.
Vaquero Radio sat with coach Figger to discuss this further.
“I think right now, I get happy with some things that I see and obviously there’s things we got to grow and improve at. I think we’ve got to become a better rebounded team, stop turning the ball over as much as we do in practice. Right now we’re at ten bodies so fatigue plays in. We got to learn how to play through fatigue.”
The Vaqueros are adapting well, though, according to coach Figger and are making strides chemistry wise. The maturity of the team is a key factor in that.
“I think the guys get along really well. I think there’s great comradery amongst the group. I think there’s a willingness to learn, and that’s what you should have when you have older guys on your team. We’re not a young team… we’re inexperienced playing together, but we’re not young,” figger said. “The majority of our guys are 21 years old or so, that helps more than you can imagine.”
To build a strong team, especially one that is lacking in numbers as the Vaqueros are right now, coach Figger is testing his team’s capabilities.
“I try to throw as much adversity at them as possible. They handle it well, [because] like I said they’re older guys, but you really don’t know until you play someone else how they’re gonna handle adversity.”
Figger is not unaware that hard practice may cause his team to fatigue, especially now as opening day for Men’s Basketball is less than a month away. But Figger is not letting his team lose hope, as they’re trying to keep their end goal clear.
“We’re in a point of practice where they don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. The seasons less than 30 days away. And so you’ll have days where you got to extra motivate the guys to get through practice. And it’s not trying to only get through practice, it’s get through practice and get better.”
UTRGV Men’s basketball kicks off its season Tuesday Nov. 9th in Edinburg, TX against Texas A&M International at the UTRGV Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted through ESPN+ and the WAC Digital Network.
This is Aaron Vasquez with Vaquero Radio.
