A difficult start to the season will throw the Northwest College men’s basketball team into the flames right away, opening the 2023-24 season on the road with two ranked opponents in three days.

The team has had ample time to prepare throughout October through practices and scrimmages, while working towards opening tip Thursday (tonight).

“We’ve been trying to focus on some of the same things that we did last year and that I’ve done for many years of coaching,” coach Andy Ward said. “Working on our defensive transition because it’s going to be really important to try and put teams in the halfcourt, rebounding the basketball.”

Ward said the team has continued to work on its halfcourt defense while working on its execution offensively in the halfcourt.

“The scrimmages were good for us, I think we got some good things out of them,” Ward said. “It gave me an indication of some weaknesses that we need to work on but I saw some good things, I think the guys are giving good effort … I thought they tried to execute offensively even though we might not have been as crisp as we needed to be.”

He said the team has been able to see different defenses in the scrimmages, but Ward hopes the team would have had another scrimmage over the final week of October.

The Trappers open up the season with a matchup against a top team in the country — squaring off with No. 24-ranked Lee College out of Baytown, Texas, at 3 p.m. on Thursday (today).

That will be followed up with another top matchup, taking on No. 10-ranked  College of Southern Idaho at 7 p.m. on Friday.

That will be followed by a matchup against Yavapai College, a team based out of Prescott, Arizona, at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

“Three games against three really good teams, we will see where we are at,” Ward said. “One thing that I keep in the forefront of our guys’ minds is steady improvement. Continuously getting better, it’s not where we are, it’s where we are going to be.”

All matchups will be played in Twin Falls, Idaho, at the College of Southern Idaho campus.

There will be a small number of players on the court this weekend who have playing experience for the Trappers.  Will Hemme, who was one of the first options off the bench last year with Kolter Merritt alongside Milton Rodriguez Santana who also received playing time, will lead the Trappers.

Ward knows that size will be a task for the Trappers early on, but feels the team’s mentality should help.

“It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it’s about the size of the fight in the dog,” Ward said. “If we’re small, maybe we can utilize our quickness. We are going to have to find ways to combat (other teams). It starts with the determination, the work ethic and the fight in our guys.”

Northwest will be on the road the first two weeks of the season before returning home for the home opener on Nov. 17 as part of the Coach Collins Heart of a Champion Classic.