Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team puts emphasis on improving shooting

Southeast Missouri State forward Joel Angus probably won't forget the way his first season with the Redhawks went last year.

The senior described the near-constant losing that occurred in the 5-25 season as, "the worst feeling ever," after he and teammates Antonius Cleveland, Jamaal Calvin and Eli Sample wrapped up a summer basketball workout Tuesday at the Student Recreation Center-North.

The memory of last season, coach Rick Ray's first at Southeast, has provided the four returners with plenty of motivation this summer and led to Ray re-evaluating how he trains his players.

"Just everything [is different]," Angus said. "Just like building a winning culture. Everything from our mentalities to the way we practice. ... We know that if we did the same thing we did last summer, then we'd get the same results."

For Ray, adding quality depth after the departure of the majority of his roster was key, as was an emphasis on shooting.

Southeast Missouri State's Antonius Cleveland takes a shot as Ole Miss Rasheed Brooks defends during the first half Saturday, Dec. 12, 2015 at the Show Me Center.Fred Lynch

"I think we all get tied up so much in the athletic ability of guys, and really if you look at what's going on in basketball, it's your ability to stretch the defense and make shots," Ray said. "You look at what the Golden State Warriors did by adding another shooter [Kevin Durant] -- it makes them unguardable because of that fact."

Ray, whose team shot 40.9 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3-point range last year, sought out shooting drills from various coaches, including Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens and Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan.

He also implemented shooting logs for the players, binders where they write down their stats for shooting drills, because he wanted them to be able to measure their progress.

"We want to see a steady dose of improvement, and then if we're not seeing improvement, then it's obvious you're not doing your homework," Ray said. "What we want is, we want those drills to be something that when guys come in on their own paired up or with a manager or somebody rebounding for them or on the shooting gun, they can just do that drill and it's something that's measurable for them."

Cleveland, who will be a senior next season and led the team in scoring last year, said there's much more of an emphasis on players putting in work outside of workouts with the coaching and strength and conditioning staff.

Southeast Missouri State's Joel Angus III shoots a free throw on a technical foul during a game last season.Southeast Missourian file

"I don't think we shot as much last summer," Cleveland said. "I think it was more of understanding what he wanted us to do. Now that we've got a year under our belt, I'd say that he put more of an emphasis on shooting."

Most players started out the summer knocking down 50 to 60 percent of their shots, with a few guys in the 70s. Then Ray shared with them the numbers for some well-known players, including former Oklahoma star and 2016 first-round NBA Draft pick Buddy Hield, who would make 85 percent on a certain drill, to make them realize how much better they need to be to be successful.

"Hey, anytime you can tie it to NBA it excites those guys, and now they get a chance to see what they need to do to get better," Ray said. "We've got some guys coming into the program that I think are going to be good shooters, so we want to make sure we start giving them data to see where they need to grow."

Guards Denzel Mahoney, Tahj Eaddy, Ray Kowalski, Jonathan Dalton, Dondre Duffus, Daniel Simmons and forwards Milos Vranes and William Tchiengang are all newcomers participating in summer workouts.

Senior forward Trey Kellum is the only player currently not on campus. He's completing an internship that he'll need to graduate.

"We wanted guys that could shoot the basketball, guys that could pass the basketball and guys that are good ball handlers," Ray said. "If you've got all three of those attributes, it adds up to you being a good player. We wanted to really increase our skill level."

More skilled players and better shooters won't make all the difference, though, which is why Ray has pushed for his guys to share the ball and make the extra pass.

"That's why Kevin Durant wanted to go to the Golden State Warriors is because he saw those guys whipping the basketball around and sharing the basketball, and it's a fun way to play," Ray said. "But everybody has to buy in. If you're out there and you're passing up a guy who's open on one more [pass], then that's not helping the team."

Ray is optimistic about where the program is headed and that the players he recruited will be able to provide the depth needed to put more pressure on opponents, something that was lacking last year.

"If we can keep people out of transition on that defensive end, then we're going to be a pretty good team because I think when it's all said and done, people have a hard time scoring in the half-court setting," Ray said. "So if we can keep them out of transition, which is us taking care of the basketball offensively, then we can be good. What I want to do is put pressure on the other team -- put pressure on the team with our defense, put pressure on the team with our transition basketball."