DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University men's basketball head coach David Doino likes his roster. If the group works hard every day and has a "chip on their shoulders" this season, Doino believes they can maximize their potential. The Cougars tip off their season with an exhibition at Division I High Point University on Oct. 30 and officially open the season on the road at non-conference foe Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 4 p.m.


FIVE KEYS TO THE 2019-20 SEASON

BUYING IN & PRACTICING HARD
Sixth-year Averett head coach David Doino knows his team has lots of potential given the strong returning roster and the addition of a good freshman class. 

"I think there is a lot of potential for this group," Doino said. It's about working hard every day and doing what we need to do. But we also need to understand where we're coming from. We won nine games as a group last year. We had several pieces that were back, so I lot of guys that we thought had some talent last year  and the potential to do some things, but we only ended up winning nine games. So for us it is an every day mentality of earning what we need to earn and proving it in practice and having that little chip on our shoulder."

Last season, the Cougars found success late in the season despite battling injuries throughout the year. Averett won six of its final nine games, including a quarterfinals upset of top seed N.C. Wesleyan College in the conference tournament. Although it is a different season with a different roster, the team believes those lessons learned can help them this season.

"I think for us it is focusing on the reasons why we were successful down the stretch," Doino said. "Our practice habits became better, so we want to start the year better with our approach to practice and with our focus level every day. And then we did some things really well at the end of the year. Defensively we were really tough at times and we figured out a way to rebound the ball at a high right and we were able to out-rebound teams by about nine and a half rebounds in our conference toward the end of the year. That's going to be crucial for us this year. We need to continue with defense and rebounding being the anchor of what we do. Hopefully that carries over.

"I thought the last seven or eight games we did a really good job taking care of the basketball and limiting our turnovers. We want to take some things that we did during that stretch and apply it early in the year, but it's really important to understand that it is a new team and new year. Every day is a new day and we have to be proving ourselves in practice."


PASSING ROAD TESTS
Averett spends a bulk of the first half of the season away from home. Including their two Division I exhibitions, the Cougars play seven of their first eight games on the road before December. Once they get through that stretch, the Cougars have six consecutive home games between Dec. 1 and Jan. 4, which includes three conference matchups. Averett also has a four-game road stretch in mid-January and ends the season with four of its six final regular season games on the road.
 

CONSISTENCY
Injuries played a big factor in 2018-19 as several players missed stretches of the season, leading Doino to shuffle his lineup. However, in those times, several players stepped up to the challenge. Senior Vince Contreras averaged 14.1 points over the first eight games last season, including a career-high 31 points at Brevard College. Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Jones had several breakout performances in his first full season of play in 2018-19. Jones earned USA South Rookie of the Week honors twice, receiving the honor on Jan. 28 and Feb. 4. During that span that covered four games, Jones averaged 20.5 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. However, an injury in practice forced him to miss the Cougars' final four regular season games and the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.After Jones went down, junior Montre' Cash went on a tear, averaging 22.3 points per contest over the last six games of the 2018-19 season. He scored a career-high 39 points vs. William Peace University on Feb. 9, which is tied for fourth in program history for single-game scoring. Meanwhile, senior timothy Henry was the model of consistency last season from Jan. 5 through the end of the season. Henry finished his junior campaign with 16 consecutive games with double-digit scoring. That stretch was highlighted by his performance at Pfeiffer University on Jan. 23 where Henry notched career-highs of 24 points and 15 rebounds. He also had 20 points in the Cougars' semifinal loss to Maryville College.


PAYING IT FORWARD
With four seniors, four juniors and a third-year sophomore, Averett has veteran leadership. With a large group of freshmen joining the mix of returning sophomores, the Cougars have a solid mentoring atmosphere in place within the team according to Henry.

"I feel like we've really come together as one and now understand what it is to be a college student-athlete," Henry said. "On top of that, preseason has helped me individually as a leader toward the freshmen because at one point, I was once in their shoes. I was the one looking up to a Charles Bryant '17 and James Contreras '18 for help."


END GOAL
The Cougars want to add another banner to the Grant Center wall. This senior class won a USA South Conference regular season title as freshman. However, they want to take the next step and make an NCAA Tournament appearance, something the program hasn't done since advancing to the second round in 2008-09.

"We need to go into every practice, work hard and take no days off," Contreras said. "Getting that conference championship is all we want and part of our expectation. In previous years, you can be like, 'Oh, there's next season.' Well now you can't say that anymore. This is the final season going into our senior year. It would mean a lot to win a championship in my senior year, just like we did for Charles (Bryant) back in my freshman year.

Contreras also said the Cougars would love to help Doino make his first NCAA Tournament as head coach of Averett.

"We haven't taken Coach Doino to the NCAA Tournament yet, and that's what we all want," he said.



 
Watch the 2019-20 Averett men's basketball preview here.