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All eyes on Ursuline’s Hughes
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Ursuline guard Mike Hughes looks to pass to a teammate while being pressured by Mooney defenders Mark Handel (22) and Joe Cunningham (23) during a game last season. The Wright State recruit will lead the Irish this winter.
YOUNGSTOWN
Being a Division I college basketball recruit in high school doesn’t come without challenges.
Opposing teams (and student sections) know your name and often gameplan around shutting you down. There are also expectations, fair or unfair, that you’ll be judged by on a regular basis.
Then there’s what Ursuline coach Keith Gunther does with his elite players.
“I make sure I ride [them] the hardest so that everybody else has to follow suit,” Gunther said.
This year, Irish senior point guard Mark Hughes will be the (un-)fortunate recipient of that special treatment. The 6-foot-3 guard committed to Wright State in August over hometown, and fellow Horizon League school, Youngstown State.
Gunther says Wright State’s coaching staff wants Hughes to be able to step in and play next year. The Irish coach has taken it upon himself to make sure that can happen.
“Mark’s close to being the best player that I’ve coached — he and DeAndre Brown,” Gunther said. “I don’t let him relax, I don’t baby him and I know some days he walks out of here thinking, ‘Coach is driving me crazy,’ but it’s my job to get him there and make him ready.”
If last season was any indication, Hughes is more than ready for the challenge. He led the Irish in scoring with 16 points per game and also averaged eight rebounds and four assists. Ursuline won a Division III district championship and finished 18-8. The Irish ran into the buzz-saw that is Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph in a regional final.
That’s the final hurdle Hughes wants to clear before he shifts his focus to the next level.
“We’re really hungry and when we got beat last year, we just told each other we’re going to be back here and we’re going to beat them next year,” Hughes said after practice on Monday. “We want nothing less than a state championship, so I know we got guys that are going to work hard.”
Role players
If they are to get past VASJ, Hughes won’t be able to do it alone. Fortunately, he won’t have to.
Ursuline has a roster full of familiar names and players who are familiar with their roles.
Take Greg Parella, for example.
He’s a 6-foot-2 guard, who can cripple opponents from behind the 3-point line. That alone prevents defenses from crashing down on Hughes when he penetrates the lane.
“Most of our guys are back, so we have that chemistry with everybody,” Parella said. “We run everything so fluently, and we all know our roles.”
Dave Collins is another player who emerged for the Irish last season. He was the team’s second most-consistent scorer come playoff time, according to Gunther.
“We got shooters all around the edge,” Collins said. “So if they do try to help on [Hughes], he can kick it out and we can hit it.”
The one thing the Irish may lack is height. But if Gunther had to choose between size down low or good ball handlers, he feels the latter will help more later in the season.
Outlook
Gunther purposely put long, athletic teams on the schedule this year, to prepare his for the challenges they face in the Division III tournament. Upcoming dates with Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, North Canton Hoover and Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas were all made with an ultimate goal in mind.
“To reach that next level, it’s going to take a lot more work than what we put in last year,” Hughes said. “We gotta be more sound defensively, we gotta do a good job rebounding the ball, and just playing together as a unit, I think we really have a chance this year.”