CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – First-year head coach David Midlick will finally get an opportunity to see the results of 32 days of practice when Austin Peay State University women’s basketball team faces Kentucky Wesleyan in a 5:15 p.m., Thursday exhibition contest at the Dunn Center.
Midlick and the Lady Govs have been hard at work since Oct. 4 when they began preseason practice. In the 32 days since, the team has put in plenty of work on both ends of the court as Midlick has worked to instill new philosophies on both offense and defense. Thursday’s tilt will give Midlick an opportunity to evaluate his team’s progress.
“We’ve worked hard on both sides of the ball – on offense and defense,” said Midlick. “Offensively, I’m looking for us to get a good shot at the basket with our players that need to take shots. We have in mind the kind of shot distribution we want each player to take and we want to see how close we can get to that Thursday.
“Defensively, we’ve fouled way too much throughout these four weeks. We’ve also given up too many offensive rebounds in practice. As a coaching staff, we’ve made an effort to emphasize improvement in those two things.”
Senior guard Tiasha Gray, a Preseason OVC Player of the Year pick in some circles, will necessarily attract the most attention in Thursday’s exhibition. Yet Austin Peay returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from a team that averaged 70.3 points per game – the best scoring average since 2002-03.
However, Midlick has seen Austin Peay battle the injury bug during the preseason. Rarely have all 14 players been available for a practice and the team will not be at full strength for the exhibition with four players expected to miss the contest.
“You want to have all your pieces there,” Midlick said. “The players want to play, they want to be healthy and be out there. The ones that are back on the court are excited to be there. Having everyone healthy also allows them to play in their natural position.”