COVINGTON, Ga. — It’s not going to be a one man show for the Alcovy boys basketball team in 2021. The Tigers plan to play together as one cohesive unit on both ends of the court. 

So, this year, the Tigers will attack their opponents by committee, which is contrary to what they’ll mainly face this season. 

And, for head coach Mack Hardwick, it begins on defense. 

“Most of the teams we face will have a kid that averages 16-18 points per game,” Hardwick said. “With us, the highest point total we had last year was 14 points. So, our focal point will be defense.” 

Entering the season with a defensive mindset also helped shape offseason workouts this past summer for the Tigers. 

Alcovy has prioritized getting in better condition physically to help the team succeed this year. 

For Hardwick, conditioning isn’t a chore for his player but a chance to become better overall athletes. 

“So, what we’ve done this offseason is make sure that we have physical conditioning,” Hardwick said. “That’s one of the things we wanted them to have exposure to. Because you’re not able to force the athletes to do anything, but you want to give them opportunities to advance their game.” 

Once the conditioning is built up, then Hardwick plans to focus on the X’s and O’s of the offense. 

The Tigers are coming off a 2020 season in which they finished 11-12 overall and a 4-6 region record. They lost to Rockdale County in round one of the Region 3-AAAAAA tournament to end their season. 

Heading into 2021, though, Hardwick wants more out of his team. And, for Hardwick, he wants his team to focus on the little things that make a big impact on the outcome of ball games. 

“We have the ability to be there,” Hardwick said. “But something is holding us back. We can’t afford to play close games. Statistically we’ve seen, when we’re playing close games, we’re eliminated. So, the big thing is we need to fine tune what we do and that’s play defense. That’s been part of our practices is trying to sharpen what we do best.”