Streaking Gulf Coast still looking to improve in return home
Usually when a team is riding a hot streak, as Gulf Coast is with five consecutive wins, including three over nationally-ranked teams, its coach is generally in a pretty good mood.
For Commodores coach Phil Gaffney, however, the focus has been more on the process than the results, and from his perspective, the process thus far has not been good enough for a team with state and national tournament aspirations.
"When I watch the film we are not playing well at all," Gaffney said. "We're getting better, but we're not even close to hitting our stride. We just haven't played well. I show the guys the film and tell them, 'you're winning and you're not even playing good, can you imagine if we get it all together and do what we're supposed to do?'"
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More:Gulf Coast basketball: Commodores finding their footing, waiting for reinforcements
The season got off to an inauspicious start with an uninspiring 84-78 win over Coastal Prep in the season opener. The Commodores went on to win the text three games before surrendering late leads in back to back losses to Polk State and South Georgia Tech.
Gulf Coast rebounded from those setbacks with three straight wins in Pensacola, including victories over nationally-ranked teams like Odessa and Lamar State, and most recently earned a pair of close wins over South Georgia Tech and Georgia Highlands in the Chipola Classic in Marianna.
For Gaffney, though, it's hard not to think of where the Commodores would be if they were playing at a little bit higher of a level.
"We really should be undefeated right now," he said. "We played so bad in the two losses. We play the last minute of those games the right way and we're undefeated and probably top five in the country right now.
"Part of it is we have a mostly new group and a new team, but I wish we were getting better quicker. I think it is a little frustrating that it's taking this long, but I think a lot of teams are feeling like that. I blame myself, though, I don't blame (the players). I'm not doing a good enough job. I've got to do a better job for us to get better."
The next opportunity for the Commodores to show improvement will come Thursday and Saturday at the Billy Harrison Field House with games against South Georgia Tech (6-5) and Florida Southwestern State at the Visit Panama City Beach Tournament.
Thursday's game with South Georgia Tech will be the second meeting between the teams inside of a week, while Saturday's matchup with No. 25 Florida Southwestern State (8-2) gives Gulf Coast a chance to add another win over a ranked opponent to its resume.
"I don't think (Florida Southwestern State) has won state, but since they started that program they've built a juggernaut," Gaffney said of the Buccaneers. "That's a quality program. They have a beautiful arena and a lot of support and they've done it the right way. They've only been existing for five, six, seven years, but they've done a great job building it. (Buccaneers coach) Eric Murphy does a great job, he's a great coach. It's really been just a great program, so you like to challenge yourself with these types of games."
If it is a close game, it would seem like the Commodores would have an advantage having won four consecutive games by four points or less. But Gaffney said those close victories came in spite of his team's late game execution and not because of it.
"To be honest with you, a lot of these games we're up big, we were up 15 with four (minutes) to go against Georgia Highlands and just blew it," he said. "It's unbelievable, it's just crazy, we really haven't played well in the last two minutes of games. That's what we have to do better.
"If we could get rid of the last five minutes of games we'd be killing people. One game we were up by 30 and it went to 15, another we were up 20 and it went to nine, we're just not good at end of game situations. I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason we're not as good in those situations."
It's an unusual area to struggling in for a team led by its guards, with freshmen Tauris Watson and Chase Forte and sophomore Jammy Pierre-Louis the top three scorers on the team, averaging a combined 46.9 of the team's 77.7 points per game this year.
Fortunately for the Commodores, they have six more games to work out the kinks before the start of Panhandle Conference competition in January, unlike last year when they got just three pre-conference games.
"That's a huge deal, that's exactly right," Gaffney said. "We didn't have that opportunity last year, just a couple of games and get ready for the Panhandle. We should be way more prepared when we get into league play. We should be playing better by then, no question."
Gulf Coast to honor Leon Miller
At halftime of Thursday's Gulf Coast game against South Georgia Tech at 7 p.m., the
school will honor Leon Miller, a former Gulf Coast counselor and men's basketball
assistant coach.
Miller served as a college counselor from 1969-1999 and as a men's basketball assistant coach from 1975-1977. Alumni from the men’s basketball teams of 1975-1977 will also be attending the game to honor Miller and be recognized during halftime.