No men's basketball team in the Patriot League relies on its starters more than Navy. The Midshipmen have four players averaging 32 minutes or more - point guard O.J. Avworo, wing guard Chris Harris, swingman Jordan Sugars and forward Romeo Garcia.
Colgate has three players averaging 30 minutes or more, but no other team in the conference has more than two. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Lafayette, which has no one getting more than 27 minutes per game.
"I don't think it's out of necessity. It's just that we have some experienced guys and we want to catalog printing use that experience to our advantage," head coach Billy Lange said.
Harris, the leading scorer in the Patriot League with 21.6 points per game, is averaging nearly 35 minutes. Perhaps the more notable number is five - the amount of minutes the 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior actually gets to rest.
Avworo is the only true point guard on the team, so it is not surprising he is being asked to play 33.5 minutes per game. The 6- foot, 200-pound junior is the team's primary ball-handler and playmaker and ranks second in the league with an average of 5.6 assists. On the rare occasions that Avworo does come out of the game, Harris usually takes over running the point.
Perhaps the most unlikely member of Navy's 30-minute club is Sugars, a sophomore who played sparingly last season. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder ranks second on the team at 34.5 minutes per game, nearly 24 more than last year.
"Chris and Jordan both have great motors and are built to play a lot of minutes. They both have the conditioning level of a marathoner," Lange said. "I don't want O.J. to come off the floor too often because he's so important as a leader. To be honest, the surprise to me is how much Romeo is playing."
Garcia, who missed almost all of last season with nagging hamstring injuries, is averaging 32 minutes. Going into the season, Lange wasn't sure the 6-foot-4, 212-pound junior would be able to handle that much time, especially considering he is routinely matched up against bigger opponents at the power forward position.
Lange knows how much those four starters are playing and will be careful handling them.
"You have to keep the lines of communication open and make sure the players know that if they get tired they can let us know they need to come out of the game," Lange said. "There are eight guaranteed timeouts and a 15-minute halftime break in each game, so if you're smart you can make sure everybody gets the proper amount of rest. As a coaching staff, we keep a close eye on everybody and if someone seems worn down or winded, we get them out of there."
Lange said the bigger issue involves making sure players don't get worn down over the course of the season. That means strategically scheduling days off, having light practices every Thomas sabo charms Thursday and taking numerous water breaks during longer practices.
"It's late in the season and I'm sure every player in the league is feeling tired these days. You have to learn how to play through the fatigue," Sugars said. "My legs are fine right now and I credit that to the offseason conditioning we do. Our strength and conditioning coordinator (Justin Livezey) does a great job of making sure we're in shape and prepared for the grind of a long season."
Starter Jeremy Wilson and backup Mark Veazey are basically splitting time at the center position, averaging 15.1 and 19.0 minutes, respectively. Navy onl
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