THUNDER BAY -- A winless jaunt through pre-season play has Manny Furtado unsure of just what he’s got to work with this season.
“Can I get back to you on that?” he asked on Tuesday, queried about what his team did right in posting six non-conference losses ahead of Saturday’s OUA season-opener at home against the Algoma Thunderbirds.
He’s certainly got plenty of pieces to work with, that on paper look like a team that should contend for a playoff berth.
Forward Bacarius Dinkins and guard Henry Tan were OUA second-team all stars last season and both showed signs of heating up in the pre-season, each surpassing the 20-point mark against the University of Northern British Columbia.
Guard Alex Robichaud, who pondered leaving after four seasons in Thunder Bay, decided to return for a final campaign, while Mor Menashe, who missed the entire 2015-16 season with a hand injury, looks none the worse for the wear this fall.
But at some point it’s got to translate into victories, Furtado said.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, if you’re not playing well and executing like we weren’t, I don’t think we’re going to beat many people,” he said.
“We’re a veteran group. There are no excuses with us. There never is. We’ve just got to find a better way to get things done. I think it starts in practice and I think this week was a real good learning experience for a lot of guys who thought we were a whole lot better than we are right now.”
Don’t forget, it’s not like Lakehead was a cellar dweller last season.
Furtado’s squad finished the regular season 10-9 then knocked off Western 60-58 in the first round of the playoffs before falling 93-71 to Ryerson in Round 2.
Regardless, it won’t be an easy ride through the OUA this season, which once again appears to be the strongest conference in the nation.
Carleton, McMaster, Ottawa, Brock and Ryerson all cracked the inaugural top 10 rankings this week, with Windsor falling just short.
It makes it that much more crucial to clean things up defensively now the games start to count.
“Giving up as many points as we have in the games that we’ve played this year is not going to help us win many games. Defensively we have to start winning some one-on-one battles and also play team defence,” Furtado said.
Giving up as many lay-ups and dunks as we have is really not acceptable.”
Furtado said communication is a big issue.
“And I think it’s a comfort thing,” he said. “We’ve got some different guys rolling through with some injuries that we have now. It’s a learning experience and we have another couple of days to get ready for Algoma on Saturday.”
Furtado declined to elaborate when asked about the injuries.
Notes: Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m., following the women’s game.
