MUNDELEIN — Anyone watching Carmel’s boys basketball team play during its season-opening Thanksgiving tournament would have noticed something different.
The Corsairs play fast.
“It fits everyone’s game,” 6-2 junior guard Chris Duff said. “We are put in situations to score while coming off screens, or push the ball and get easy buckets.”
Consider this — in Carmel’s first four games at the Crystal Lake Central tournament, it averaged 78 points. In 2013-14, the Corsairs never scored 78 points. Only twice did they score 70 or more.
It’s just a small sample size, but expect the points-heavy trend to continue.
“To score 80-plus points a game is a great feeling. It’s a really fast-paced, up-tempo game,” 6-6 senior forward Tim Owens said.
Carmel’s 2-2 record over the four games revealed both strengths and cracks.
First the strengths. When a team plays at such a frenetic pace, it must use its entire bench. Carmel went deep into its roster in every game.
“Everyone contributed. That was really good to see,” coach Zack Ryan said.
While Duff led the team in scoring in two of four games (a 78-70 loss to Crystal Lake on Friday and Saturday’s 81-76 loss to Rockton Hononegah), there were two different leading scorers in Carmel’s two victories. In an 84-67 win over McHenry on Nov. 24, 6-1 junior Zavier Barnes led with 20 points. Against Belvidere North on Nov. 26, a 82-46 win, 5-9 junior guard Shareif Belser-Bailey scored a team-high 27.
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In the Hononegah loss, Belser-Bailey contributed 13 points while 6-foot senior guard Julian Johnson and 5-8 sophomore guard Brian Julien scored 10 points. It’s one thing when reserves act as stand-ins for resting starters. When they are productive, as Carmel’s backups were, it can be one piece of a winning formula.
“I feel like having an entire team score is something other teams won’t have,” Owens said. “Some teams use seven or eight guys. We use the entire roster. More scoring and more not being tired.”
Now the cracks.
In the first half of the four games, Carmel averaged 31 points. In the second half, the Corsairs scored 46.5 points. The sluggish starts are puzzling to Ryan.
“We’ve played four great second halves. It’s just a matter of what can we do different to start games,” he said. “That’s something we have to try and figure out.”
Ryan said much of the lethargic play was due to nerves. Aside from Duff and Bailey, no current Corsair has varsity experience (Owens and Johnson were on the 2013-14 roster but did not play). Ryan and Duff said the team will grow out of its early game listlessness with more experience.
“It’s a demeanor that you are going to come out, start out hard and not thinking we will take any team for granted,” Duff said.
On Friday night, Carmel is scheduled to host Cary-Grove. It will be the first home game of the season and Ryan’s first as coach. Those are significant milestones.
It’s also the first opportunity for area fans to witness a new era — and style — of Carmel boys basketball.
“Coach [Ryan] pushes us and our head is 100 percent into the game. Friday will be a great game,” Owens said.