Just like Winthrop’s football team, the men’s basketball team is undefeated in the Big South Conference and on a six game winning streak. The Eagles started the conference as well as the new year on excellent terms. Being 4-0 in the conference, the Eagles have been putting up great numbers and earning lots of achievements and loving that undefeated feeling.
“It feels good to be undefeated, we have been working really hard since Christmas break and our team has been playing good basketball,” said junior guard Chandler Vaudrin.
Junior guard Kyle Zunic said that the thought of being undefeated is a “great feeling.”
“You always go into every game trying to win and to come out of 4 games with the way we have been playing is an unbelievable feeling.”
But that’s not all they love, Zunic said.
“My favorite part of the program is going to battle with the boys and the coaches. I love playing with them and it is very enjoyable to go and play the game I love with a bunch of guys who I’m very close to. That makes the experience so much more enjoyable,” Vaudrin said. “The family-like atmosphere. Win or lose we are a family and that will be forever.”
With all the teams the Eagles challenged, there were two that were said to be the toughest so far.
“The toughest team that we played would probably have to be the Duke game. That was just such a great experience playing against a school that is so high up and we really learned a lot from it,” Zunic said.
“I think ETSU [East Tennessee State University] was the toughest game so far. They had a group of strong physical guards and two big men on the inside that altered shots,” Vaudrin said.
Even with the tough competitors the Eagles have managed to pull out a win.
“At the end of the day it is all about our defense. If we play our system defense we will win a lot of games. I think we have defended the three better. Beginning of the year we were giving up a lot of 3’s. Now we have made it an emphasis to guard it better. It’s all about how you respond. A lot of stuff is going to be thrown at you. It might be good or bad but it is all about how you respond to those events thrown at you,” Vaudrin said.
“Everyone in the locker room is doing it for the guy to the right and left of him and that is something that is very strong in a team. It will take a lot to break us apart because we are so tight as a group. I think the biggest thing that we’ve improved on is our defense, we always pride ourselves on getting stops night in and night out, now, everyone has bought into the system and every night we are coming in making sure that stopping the other team is our most important priority,” Zunic said.
“The season is long and we have so many games that we play that we get caught up in thinking about the results at the end of the season. It’s what you can do right now to get better each day and it just makes you not get lost in the season and focus on either the next practice or the next game,” Zunic said.
Be sure to catch the next men’s basketball home game against USC Upstate on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Winthrop Coliseum.
Photo provided by Winthrop Athletics
