Caufield says Ada boys must make defense a priority
Dec. 2—When talking about how successful his boys basketball can be as his team enters tonight's season-opener at Kingston, the conversation with Ada head coach Kyle Caufield always goes back to defense.
Caufield said his squad, which contains five seniors, must make defense a top priority night in and night out.
Caufield has had his entire roster together for only a few weeks after members of the Ada High football team joined his crew following their playoff exit on Nov. 11.
"I believe our kids have adjusted quickly coming from football. The main focus, as always, is the defensive end of the floor and great effort. I believe we have been getting that in practice and in our scrimmages," Caufield told The Ada News.
The Cougars will lean on seniors Cooper Patterson, Andrew Hughes, Jack Morris, Sutton Boyington and Isaiah Walker not only for their playmaking abilities but their leadership.
As always, Caufield has high expectations for this group of Cougars.
"The expectation for our group is to go compete every night on the defensive end of the floor. The main focus and expectation is to focus on each day and the game that is in front of us each night. We want to take it one game at a time," he said.
The focus is now on a Kingston club that got off to a shaky start to its 2022-23 season. The Redskins dropped a 78-40 decision to host Atoka Tuesday night.
Caufield said he still expects a tough outing in a tough environment tonight.
"Kingston has a tradition for competing hard and making deep runs into the playoffs. They will be well coached by Bobby MacAdoo," he said. "I know they graduated a few guys from last year however, I know they will be ready to play Ada and I expect them to be a tough opponent."
Caufield believes that if everything comes together, he feels like his team could very well be playing basketball in March of 2023.
"Every year our expectation is to be playing until early March, which would mean we made it to the state tournament. In order to do that, we will have to be great on the defensive end of the floor," he said.
See, there's that word again.
