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IVCC men’s basketball seeks return to playoffs as new season dawns · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  IVCC men’s basketball seeks return to playoffs as new season dawns. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice brought to you by
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  Everlet. The Illinois Valley Community College men's basketball team will blend its
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  top performers from last season with a large incoming class expected to
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  contribute immediately as the Eagles seek a return to The postseason. Last
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  year's IVCC squad finished with a record of 8-22 and missed the
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  NJCAA District 4 playoffs for the first time. Since Chris Herman ascended
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  to the position of head coach in 2014, the 2024 Arrowhead Conference
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  Coach of the Year built this year's recruiting class, focusing on players
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  with postseason experience as well as athleticism. I tried to get us
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  a little tougher mentally and better able to rebound. Herman said of
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  the Eagles who were beaten on the boards by an average margin
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  of 39.5-31.0 last season. If you can take care of the ball
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  and rebound, you'll be in every game.
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  IVCC returns its top two scorers from the 2025-2026 campaign in Milwaukee
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  Natives and former high school teammates Amir Woods, 16.1 points per game,
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  and Amir Anderson 11.3 points and a team best 6.2 rebounds per
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  game. Also in the starting lineup for the Eagles season opener at
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  Morton College on Saturday were sophomore Marquise Walker, a transfer from NCAA
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  Division III, North Central University, Minnesota, along with freshman Jacoby Walls and
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  Zaire McNeil, who both come from Class III a sectional finalist Hyde
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  Park in Chicago. Freshman Guard Reggie Possowaite, an honorable mention all-state selection
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  four Peoria Manuel's 2026 Class IIA state championship team, came off the
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  bench to score a team-high 19 points. The Eagles started slowly at
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  Morton before finding their rhythm, cutting a large early deficit down to
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  as little as four against a team coming off a twenty win
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  season. It was kind of a weird vibe Saturday when we came
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  out, Herman said. We got down about seventeen to two, and then
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  we fought back. We were down by nine at the half and
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  then we cut it to four. We just had a hard time
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  executing the offense at first. Despite the setback, Herman saw improvement in
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  the defensive pressure the squad was able to create. IVCC forced 17
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  turnovers and recorded 11 steals Saturday to work its way back into
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  contention. Freshman guard Kaden Thompson who helped lead Peoria Richwoods to a
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  Class 4A sectional final last winter, made a team high four steals.
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  I I think defensively we're much better than we were last year,
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  Herman said. We've got some guys that really get out there and
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  hawk the ball. Reggie Postalweight and Caden Thompson are really good defenders.
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  Jacoby Walls is an undersized center, but he can guard any position
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  with his lateral quickness. Sophomore guard Nick Olivero, a LaSalle Peru graduate,
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  put up four points and three rebounds in eight minutes in Saturday's
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  opener, while the Eagles roster features three other local products in freshman
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  Hezekiah Joachim, Ottawa, Cash Rakes, Serena and Andrew Gibson, Putnam County. Freshman-post
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  player Karen Hopkins, Arlington, Kentucky, missed the game while recovering from a
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  torn patellar tendon but is poised to join the IVCC lineup in
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  the coming days. Olivero. Played pretty good Saturday, Herman said. He doesn't
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  make many mistakes, and he understands the offense. He's moving up in
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  my eyes a little bit. Herman has the Eagles eyes set on
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  climbing the ladder in the Arrowhead Conference and getting back into the
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  postseason field. Last year was the first time we didn’t take the
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  playoffs, he said. We won a few good games early, but we
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  really struggled. We'll have to play together, play unselfish, and play hard.
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  It starts on the defensive end, being unselfish defensively. If you do
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  that, you do that and take care of the ball, good things
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  will happen. I think some of them got to playing too fast
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  Saturday and didn't take care of the ball very well. If we
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  can get that out of our system, we should be okay. The
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  Eagles 0-2 host Prairie State College at 7.30 p.m. Thursday.