For Bruce Wilson, head men’s basketball coach, a 1-4 start is not quite what he had hoped for. Despite the slow start, Wilson remains confident in his players and their ability to compete with their opponents.

“We’ve played some very tough competition,” Wilson said. “I think between Elmhurst, Augustana, Carleton and Grinnell, the only loss that any of those teams have sustained was when we beat Grinnell. All of the rest of the games they have won, so that’s some pretty hard competition. The one thing you look at when you have a schedule like that is how you are playing and how you are progressing.”

Junior forward David Ferezy talked about the importance of bouncing back from a slow start. Ferezy spoke with confidence about the team’s potential, saying that a lot of teams may look past the Storm.

“The next couple weeks are pivotal weeks for this team,” Ferezy said. “We have played some very good teams to start the year out and we played them well. When we start getting into conference play we are going to show that we are underrated and we will surprise a lot of people this year.”

One of the things that Wilson said the team was going to have to work on now after the first few games is defense.

“We still have a long way to go as far as our half-court defense goes,” Wilson said. “We’re just giving up too many points right now.”

Sophomore center Tim Dunlavy feels the same way. Dunlavy went on to say that the team needs to work on playing a complete game.

“We have had a difficult time on the defensive end and we are giving up too many points,” Dunlavy said. “We are going to need to be able to stop other teams’ runs and learn to play more physical on the defensive end. When we play with effort and confidence we usually play smarter and it leads to our successes in the game. The most important thing for us is we need to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball, not just short spurts throughout the game.”

When talking about what the team could build on, Wilson mentioned the team’s win over Grinnell and the importance of getting an early lead on an opponent.

“The thing we did really well in the game against Grinnell was we got a lead and then we built on that lead,” Wilson said. “That needs to be our focus. When you get behind and you’re constantly trying to catch up it is not good.”

Wilson also talked about some of the tough competition the Storm will face in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.

“There are going to be a lot of good teams in the conference,” Wilson said. “Coaches in the conference looked at Loras, Buena Vista, Coe and Wartburg as the top four teams.”