Hawks confident foundation for success is set, remain encouraged by progress being made

QUINCY — Mason Wujek doesn’t consider himself a Jenga expert by any means.

“I’m not very good at it,” he said.

The good thing is he doesn’t have to play it alone.

Now in his third season with the Quincy University men’s basketball program and experiencing his second rebuilding project in that time, the 6-foot-8 junior forward is well versed on what it takes to succeed. He likened it to a game of Jenga.

Create a solid foundation. Make strategic and smart moves. Build toward a reachable goal.

“It’s exactly like a Jenga tower. You knock it down and now you have to rebuild it back up,” Wujek said. “You have to make sure it’s sturdy and you have to build the program. That’s probably the most difficult thing. The challenge is building it.”

That’s the task of a new head coach and a rebuilt roster.

Brad Hoyt makes his official debut as the Hawks’ coach at 6 p.m. Friday against the University of Findlay in the GMAC/GLVC Regional Crossover in Findlay, Ohio. The QU lineup features only three returnees — Wujek, sophomore guard Jake Hamilton and sophomore forward John Kelly III — so the chemistry and camaraderie will be under the microscope as much as the ability to score and defend.

“We’ve had a short amount of time to put it all together, but I’m encouraged by our progress so far,” said Hamilton, who played in all 28 games as a true freshman and averaged 4.7 points and three rebounds. “I love what the coaches have done from the first workout until now. We’ve progressed. We’ve adapted. We’ve fit together.”

That’s not an easy task with eight new faces on a 16-player roster.

“I know it’s supposed to be serious out here, but I know with these guys we can smile,” said Wujek, who averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds a season ago. “We can get after each other, but we can smile after it and joke with each other. We get along and we have really good chemistry.”

The reason for that is two-fold. One, Hoyt and his staff identified and recruited players who fit the QU mold. And two, the returnees embraced change and helped this group mesh.

“I’m really encouraged with the leadership of this group,” said Hoyt, who left John Wood Community College in April after 13 seasons at the helm to replace Steve Hawkins as QU’s coach. “The consistency has been really good. We’ve had good days. We’ve had bad days, but we haven’t had multiple bad days of personality. 

“So these guys are ready to play. They’re ready to compete. They’re ready to play together.”

Hoyt has an idea which group might play together best, but he also expects the rotation to change.

“There’s a good chance two weeks from now it will look a little different than it does this weekend,” he said. “That’s natural.”

Hamilton, Kelly and Wujek will be part of the rotation, as will junior point guards Ethyn Brown and El Sieger and junior forwards Logan Robbins and Joshua Boucher. Freshman shooting guard Max Booher will see playing time as well.

All will be asked to contribute offensively in some fashion considering the Hawks return just 18.9 points per game.

“I think we’re going to be scoring by committee, so I’m really curious to see which four or five guys step up each night to be part of our attack,” Hoyt said.

Wujek believes it will be everyone.

“As long as we play well together, it’s going to carry us a long way,” Wujek said. “You can’t win as a team if you don’t get along and don’t share the responsibility.”

Together, the Hawks can build toward the future without letting the Jenga tower fall.

“I have a lot of faith in the coaches to build that Jenga very fast,” Hamilton said. “I think we’re already getting there.”