The Quincy University men’s basketball team has gone through a lot of different looks in the last year, starting with fielding a team in the 2023-24 season without three of their top four scorers from the previous season.

The team has been led by senior guard Zion Richardson, who is leading the team in points per game (17.7), minutes per game (32.2), and rebounds per game (7.2) which are all career highs for Williamson. Right behind Richardson is sophomore guard Isiah Foster who is the only other player averaging double-digit points per game (11.9).

Foster headlines the group of underclassmen who have stepped into bigger roles this season. five out of the nine players who have appeared in at least 22 of the team’s 28 games are either freshmen or sophomores, the number goes to seven out of eleven if you drop the games played threshold from 22 to 16.

As could probably be expected with a team losing four of its five starters, the men’s basketball team has experimented with a lot of different lineups amid the youth movement they’re currently experiencing. This includes nine different players making a start at some point this season.

The largest number of these changes came during the stretch in which head coach Steve Hawkins’ team tried to get things back on track. They followed up a stretch in which they won five out of six games by losing 11 of their last 13. This brought the team’s record from 9-6 to 11-17.

The amount of talent that is set to return for the 2024-25 season could be a reason to be optimistic for the future of the program, the entire team would be able to return should they want to (including the team’s two seniors, Richardson and Nate Shockey have the option for an extra season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic).

One of the first things to point to amid the team’s struggles is the inconsistencies on offense, with the team scoring below their season average of 71.3 points per game in seven of their last ten losses.

One reason to possibly point to for the offensive inconsistencies is the lack of consistent three-point shooting. The Hawks shot 30.8% as a team on 21.7 three point attempts per game (not the worst percentage you will see, but also not an efficient shooting team). The team is led in three-point shooting efficiency by Foster (36%), with Jake Hamilton (35%), Shockey (34.3%), and Richardson (33.6%) not far behind.

Generally, at higher levels of basketball, 40% is the benchmark for a very good shooter and 33% is around the mark for a capable shooter (or somebody you are okay with shooting). The benchmarks for good efficiency numbers as a team are 33% from three and 50% from two because both average out to one point per possession. However, these numbers are low relative to what other top players will put up.

The issue that arises from this is that the lack of consistent shooting does not force the defense to have to play as tight to players on the perimeter, creating less space for players trying to operate close to the rim (whether it be a big man in the low post or a player slashing in from the perimeter). This is the reason for teams placing such a premium on shooting in modern-day basketball: the farther out you force the defense to have to guard, the more stress you can place on each individual defender 1-on-1.

Despite this, the Hawks were still capable of scoring from inside the three-point arc at a 48% clip as a team. This showcases how skilled these players are at operating in constricted space, the team managed to put up a two-point field goal percentage that is close to the benchmark of an efficient team without the support of a consistent three-point attack to create space.

Defense has not been as much of a problem for the Hawks, although it has been far from perfect this season. This is the end of the floor that the Hawks pride themselves on, playing an aggressive brand of defense and looking to help create offensive opportunities from their defense.

The team has quick, heads up players on the perimeter in players like Shockey, Foster, Jake Hamilton, and Orlando Thomas. They also have switchable wing players who can guard inside and out in Williamson and John Kelly III. Both of which can be paired with size in big men like Mason Wujek (6’8″), or the 6’7″ trio of Todd Bieg, Ibrahim Drame, and Jamil Wilson.

The versatility of players in all three of these areas have allowed Coach Hawkins to get creative at times (sometimes due to matchup, sometimes due to foul trouble), whether it be a small ball lineup putting Kelly III at center, or putting out a lineup that has Hamilton (6’4″) and Shockey (6’3″) as the smallest players on the court. This helps allow for the team to have a chance to match up against opponents who have a more traditional big man who operates out of the low post, or teams that want to run a more modern 5-out offense and anything in between.

With all these things going for the Hawks on defense why have they struggled at times on defense? Foul problems. Players have struggled to stay on the court as a result of foul trouble in a lot of games. These problems have forced Coach Hawkins to have to play lineups that are not always the best matchup against their opponent on paper. This is a give and take that comes with playing as aggressive as the Hawks try to be on the defensive side of the ball, and certainly a trade off that the Hawks have been okay with making.