Boys basketball: Indian Creek looking to gain experience, replace 5 starters

Indian Creek basketball coach Nolan Govig talks to the players before the start of the summer scrimmage on Tuesday June 28th.

SHABBONA – With five starters gone from last season’s 11-21 squad, the summer for the Indian Creek boys basketball team has been a learning experience.

“I think we had some growing pains,” second-year coach Nolan Govig said. “We went to some bigger tournaments, went to Oswego and got bullied around a little bit, but those were some 4A schools. We’re pretty young this year so there’s growing pains this summer, but I think we’ll be all right when the season comes around.”

Govig, who was the 2017-18 Daily Chronicle Basketball Player of the Year, said his team played well during stretches this summer but needs to develop consistency. Senior point guard Sam Genslinger said he’s confident the Timberwolves will figure things out by the start of the season.

He said he hopes the team will turn some heads in the Little 10.

“We’re figuring it out for sure,” Genslinger said. “We’re getting there. We’ll be there for sure by the start of the season. I know we will be. We’ll figure something out this summer.”

The team finished its summer league schedule in late June, not only going to a tournament hosted by Oswego but competing regularly at Hinckley-Big Rock’s summer league with other schools, including Sandwich and Genoa-Kingston.

Given the inexperience of his team, Govig said the game experience was invaluable.

“It’s one thing being in the gym scrimmaging against ourselves,” Govig said. “Once we get out there and we see the level of play that’s going to be in our conference, or going to Oswego and seeing teams that are that good, I think it’s really good for them.”

Indian Creek Landon Schrader takes a shot during a scrimmage on Tuesday June 28th while taking on Huntley-Big Rock.

In addition to Genslinger, Govig said he expects a lot out of Landon Schrader, a lanky 6-3 junior.

“He’s got length, and he’s a rim protector,” Govig said. “We need to get him going to the rim a little more, but we’re going to be working on that with him.”

Schrader said the summer has been a great time to learn and gain experience.

“We’ve got ways we can improve,” Schrader said. “We play good as a team, but once we start losing we get down on each other and it just goes down from there.”

Genslinger missed some of the summer league because of his commitments to baseball and other sports, but said he was impressed with what he saw.

“When I was here we played well,” Genslinger said. “We kept up with some [Class] 3A teams earlier, so I think we’re going to have a chance in conference. We’re going to surprise some teams in conference this year.”

Have a Question about this Daily Chronicle article?