The Southland Conference held a media session with the UTRGV women’s and men’s basketball head coaches, where they spoke about their preseason progress and what they hope the season will bring.
In the 2023-24 season, the women’s basketball team ended with a 6-23 overall record and 5-15 in conference play. The men’s basketball team finished with a 6-25 overall record and 2-18 in conference play.
For 11 years, the Vaqueros previously competed in the Western Athletic Conference before joining the SLC on July 1.
Women’s basketball head coach Lane Lord said the most exciting thing about joining this new conference is less time spent traveling.
“In years past, we’d have to fly to the West Coast and go through a couple time zones,” Lord said. “Play on a Thursday then fly on Friday to the next opponent. I think being able to bus to more games, playing every single game in one time zone is going to be a great benefit for our student athletes.”
Kahil Fennell, former Brigham Young University assistant basketball coach, was welcomed to UTRGV as the new men’s basketball head coach on April 5 after the university announced former head coach Matt Figger’s departure on March 19.
Fennell said that as the new head coach, he is focused on getting the team better each day.
“I think you can get lost in the sauce a little bit, and lose focus on what’s important as far as the day-to-day and the process of trying to get better, and better, and better for us,” he said. “It’s just important that we continue to get better, and not worry too much about big-picture things that we can’t control.”
Based on last year’s performance, Lord said the biggest obstacle the team faced was turning the basketball over from the opponent and shooting in their home net. He said that during their practices, he has been making sure to emphasize offensive play.
“We’ve really spent most of the summer and the fall on taking care of the basketball,” Lord said. “Statistics show if you can score in the 80s in women’s basketball, you got a really good chance to be at the top of your conference. And that’s certainly going to be our goal, to try to get to the 80-point mark every game.”
With the season starting in about two weeks, Fennell said his athletes are “working exceptionally hard.”
“You know, obviously, there’s a long way to go,” he said. “It’s a pretty big undertaking with everything that we’re trying to put in place. I’m really proud of the work they’re putting in, and I do feel like we’re continuing to improve and I’m excited about that.”
Redshirt sophomore forward Marshal Destremau explained the new identity the team will have based off of last year’s record.
“We’re a completely different team to last year,” Destremau said. “I think, you know, the new coaches and all the new players should show that. And I think our identity will just be a team that plays hard and cares about winning. We’re going to win a lot more games than we did last year.”
The men’s basketball team will play their first game against the University of Nebraska Huskers at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
At 7 p.m. Nov. 5, the women’s basketball team will open the season playing against the University of Houston Cougars in Houston.
