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Moffit inspiring team during homestand
Jan. 4, 2010
By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com ARLINGTON - Texas - Tommy Moffitt has been hobbling around on crutches for weeks. It'll be almost another six before he can get back on the court. The junior forward is still nursing his broken left foot. The foot may be broken, but Moffitt's mouth and leadership capabilities are still quite intact. Moffitt ripped into his teammates and gave a passionate and heartfelt speech during the halftime of UT Arlington's 72-64 victory over UT Dallas this past Saturday. "He said we needed to pick up," freshman guard Armani Williams said. "Whenever he thinks we're doing what we're supposed to, he'll get on us. I appreciate it though." Williams, who scored a career high 23 points on Saturday, and the rest of the Mavs were leading 38-36 over the Comets and looked significantly more energized coming out of the locker room, with Moffitt's speech a main reason. Coach Scott Cross said even he didn't need to speak up after Moffitt's speech. "He lit into the guys at halftime, I didn't even have to say a word," Cross said. "I knew the guys were going to play hard in the second half." Cross hopes UTA (6-5) can ride that energy all the way to Tuesday night's game against Utah Valley (6-7). Utah Valley isn't the most offensive minded team, averaging under 70 points per game, but Cross wants the defensive intensity to remain the same. "I tend to focus on offense a lot, but I'm not an idiot I know defense wins games," Cross said. "I think we have the ability to be a great defensive team." Senior guard Marquez Haynes is usually the floor leader for both the offense and defense. His 15 steals lead the team. And while Haynes has been grabbing headlines for scoring 24 points per game, he knows the team's defense will be important even if it still needs some tinkering.
"It's a work in progress," Haynes said. "As long as we keep seeing improvement, everyone will be happy with that. We don't want to take any steps back." And if there are any steps taken back, the Mavs can bet on Moffitt being right there in the locker room. And it will be loud, crutches and all. "We don't ever have quiet speeches when we do bad or when we're not playing to our potential," Williams said. |
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