Bakersfield College’s men’s basketball team has started the season with six road games and has a record of 3-3 with losses to Antelope Valley, Modesto and City College of San Francisco.
The three wins came against Oxnard, Orange Coast, and, most recently, Allan Hancock on Nov. 27.
Against Hancock, the Renegades won 92-84 and are building on the season led by mainly freshman.
“A win is a win, and we needed one bad,” said BC head coach Rich Hughes. “We won on the road with a lot of freshman and anytime you win on the road early, with this being our sixth game, and pull out a win, that’s always good.”
Hughes has said previously that this will be a battle tested team and he believes his sophomore leaders can help get the freshman where they need to be to make this a good season for the Renegades. But Hughes did have his concerns about the team play.
“We have to shoot better. We’re shooting in the 30th percentile for overall field goals and we’re shooting 20 percent from three,” he said. “We shot better at Hancock, but we have to improve upon that.
“To be in games, our defense has to improve; we’re giving up 80 points a night and that’s just not very good. We want to have them in the 70s, so we have a lot of work to do, but now is the time.”
Hughes was asked about the team’s effort on the court, and he had mixed emotions about it.
“We’re a small team, so we have to be able to out work people, and in the Fresno tournament we didn’t do that,” Hughes said. “In the Ventura tournament, I thought we did a pretty decent job with hustle points and things like that. We’re always going to have to be high up on that meter as far as playing with a lot of energy and intensity.
“We have to improve on that each week and hopefully by the time we get into conference we’re playing harder than anybody.”
Up next for the Renegades is the Antelope Valley tournament on Dec. 3-5, where BC will likely get a rematch against AVC and will play a strong Mt. San Antonio College team.
“In the Antelope Valley tournament we play Mt. SAC, who I believe is ranked No. 4 in the state right now, so it will be a good test for us,” Hughes said.
“We have to get better and get right into it.”