When you’re a mid-major and win two games in November at Power 5 schools, a lot of things happen. You get a lot of attention that you don’t normally get, including in the national media. After the second such win, many realize the first one was not an accident or just the opponent having a bad night – they realize you’re a good team. Your 6-1 mark that includes those wins has people thinking you’re in the beginning of a big season, maybe even one where you contend for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
All of that sounds great. But ask Mike Jones, the eighth-year head coach at Radford, about their wins at Notre Dame and Texas, and you come to understand that it can be a blessing and a curse.
“When you win games like this, the expectation level goes up,” said Jones. “People are like, ‘What happened against Duquesne?’ Well Duquesne is a good team, too. It’s not just going to be automatic that you beat this team, and all of a sudden you’re going to be consistent and beat the next team.”
In fact, the Highlanders turned right around and lost their next four games, all on the road. They didn’t lose all of them to other Power 5 teams, although one of them came at Clemson – they lost at improving James Madison, Ohio University, Clemson and Southern Conference contender UNC Greensboro. It goes along with the reality that they won’t be contending for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when it’s all said and done, as the staff knows how competitive the Big South Conference is and how the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee docks mid-majors for conference losses. But there is more to it than just that.
Don’t misunderstand: there was a lot to like about the 6-1 start, and Jones will happily take the wins. Should his team win the Big South Tournament, he will gladly take the possible higher seed these wins could lead to, which could mean avoiding one of the play-in games as a No. 16 seed (although the Highlanders won one of those games last season, which brought its own great feelings). But he’s been doing this long enough to understand the bigger picture.
Radford has a veteran team this year, which along with their status as defending Big South champions has brought pros and cons. The pros have been that this team largely knows what the coaching staff expects and what the program is about, and they have a lot of positives to draw on from the winning they did. There’s a mindset of wanting to build on the success of a year ago, to want more, instead of trying to climb the ladder to get it for the first time. The cons have been that they are still mostly 18- to 22-year-old young men, and as such have been prone to going about business as if they have read their proverbial press clippings.
“We were so inconsistent with our approach and our culture, more so than practice,” Jones said of the team early on. “When they get into practice, they’re a pretty competitive group. Just in terms of the day-to-day approach, being urgent with the things we do, we were just kind of lacking. We were getting a lot of pats on the back, and you had to just ignore that stuff and get back to business.”
And with two big wins as part of a big start, that became the case even more so. But they need more than a start; they need consistency. Jones said he doesn’t think this team has played a full 40-minute game yet, which excites him and the staff as the potential this team has when they do play a full game.
Radford has plenty of contributors, but none bigger than senior forward Ed Polite Jr. A first team All-Big South performer last season, Polite stands just 6’5″ but averages a little under 10 rebounds per game this year and over eight for his career. That’s far from all that he does, but it’s what stands out, and now as a senior, he’s doing more.
“Some guys have a knack, and he has a knack,” Jones said of Polite. “When you add toughness, athleticism and a knack, you’re going to affect the game on the glass, and Ed does that. He also has really good I.Q., has good vision, he can pass, he can do a lot of things. We’re starting to see a complete player this year, and I think he’s going to get better as it goes along.”
The other individual who stands out in some way is redshirt sophomore Carlik Jones (no relation to the coach). He hit the game-winning shot in the Big South championship game last season, then hit the big one against Texas. While the Highlanders have several who can hit big shots, there’s no doubting his desire to take those shots.
“There is no doubt about it. He has that confidence, that belief in his ability,” Mike Jones said. “He’s learning when to use it and when not to use it, and at the end of shot clocks and at the end of the game, we like to have the ball in his hands.”
Those two have plenty of help, from Travis Fields Jr. and Caleb Tanner, both of who shoot 50 percent from long range, to Donald Hicks, another fine shooter and veteran presence, and a good bench. They take good care of the ball and have a better than 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Radford’s non-conference is almost complete, as only a trip to Maryland on Saturday and a home game against Mars Hill a few days later remain. They have navigated a gauntlet thus far in the non-conference schedule, but it’s a schedule meant for a veteran team that has won something like the Highlanders. Their most recent win, a 12-point win over Sun Belt contender Georgia Southern, was a pretty good one, though it won’t get the attention the wins at Notre Dame and Texas will.
The games thus far have prepared the Highlanders for the challenges that lie ahead in Big South play, which begins with a chance to get some momentum as three of the first four are at home. It then comes down to things like playing a full game and getting consistency, the latter a recurring theme Mike Jones talks about. All of those things can help the early wins end up meaning even more later on.
