MID-YEAR STUMBLE

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Take a swing at it

Amid women’s basketball’s recent struggles, O’Regan vows to ‘figure it out’

By KAIDEN BRIDGES The Breeze

For the first time in its 2022-23 campaign, JMU women’s basketball has hit a rough patch.

The Dukes rode a 13-game win streak and already surpassed their 2021-22 win total before dropping three of their last four games: Georgia Southern, 69-65, on Jan. 19; Coastal Carolina, 79-64, on Jan. 26; and Georgia

State, 72-64, on Jan. 28. While JMU is still tied for second in the Sun Belt Conference, it now sits at 17-5 (7-3 Sun Belt).

“Something is in the water, and I’m not afraid to say something is,” head coach Sean O’Regan said. “I’m going to figure out what it is and get it out of the water.”

O’Regan said the Dukes are ready to bounce back this week at South Alabama on Feb. 2 and then travel to Statesboro, Georgia, this weekend to seek revenge against the Georgia Southern Eagles, which downed JMU in Harrisonburg four games ago to kickstart the cold streak.

O’Regan said the team has been practicing well and remains in high spirits, explaining that this road bump was expected at some point but won’t continue to hold the Dukes back.

“It’s a challenge for a lot of teams to stay focused throughout the whole year,” O’Regan said. “I think late January, early February, that is one of the biggest challenges because you really have to dig in and stay focused and make sure you stay true to your commitments and your goals and what you're trying to chase.”

O’Regan said no matter a Sun Belt team’s ranking in the standings, the level of competition will always be fierce. He also said JMU has to be ready to play its best every time the Dukes step on the court because their opponents are ready to play their best, too.

“I want to be the hunter, not the hunted, even if you're on top of the pyramid,” O’Regan said. “I really want to emphasize to our players that we are hunting, right? We are not being hunted. You’ve got to be aggressive.”

O’Regan said he wants to improve on defense. In the last four games, JMU has given up between 65 and 79 points — dating back to JMU’s Nov. 20 76-65 loss to North Carolina, it had only let up 65 or more points twice in 13 games before Jan. 19.

“We haven't had stretches like that all year,” O’Regan said. “Defensively, I think we've gotten away from who we want to be.”

Additionally, O’Regan said the Dukes’ rebounding needs to improve. Through five games, O'Regan said, the Dukes have had a -1 rebound margin, meaning they’ve been outrebounded by at least one in the last five games. He made it a strong point at the beginning of the season of how important rebounding would be for JMU, making it a competition every day at practice seeing who could get the most rebounds. He added that if defensive rebounding can improve, then so will the offense.

And off the court, O’Regan said he wants to rekindle his players’ relationships to ensure the team stays connected.

“Kiki [Jefferson] and myself, Caroline [Germond] and myself, Peyton [McDaniel], I think those connections help with everything,” O’Regan said. “I think that's part of how a team can be really great, is if it's really connected.”

O’Regan said he takes responsibility for the losing skid and believes the improvements begin with himself — knowing what it takes to get the Dukes back on track and ready for the back half of the season.

“This responsibility falls all on me in the sense of getting them ready to play, hitting the right motivational buttons, that sort of thing,” O’Regan said. “I believe that this [past] weekend really falls on me, and I'm going to be responsible for doing the right things and getting us on the right track. So we'll be back at it.”

CONTACT Kaiden Bridges at bridg4ke@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more women’s basketball coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter @TheBreezeSports.

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