Kits Count On Improved Offense For Cage Success

Like it does every season, the annual Blue vs. Orange scrimmage held at Beardsley Gymnasium served as the introduction of the high school boys basketball season for every level of player who will wear an Evanston uniform.

Parents and fans made up a crowd of a couple of hundred spectators who witnessed the freshmen, sophomore and varsity cagers match up against each other with varying results.

But the real action --- at least for the varsity --- took place in the same venue Saturday in another full-court scrimmage with only a lone reporter watching from the stands.

That scrimmage not only offered the final real tune-up before the Wildkits open Tuesday at the Fenton Thanksgiving Tournament, it also served as a glimpse into the potential the current squad has on offense after a 20-11 season last year when head coach Mike Ellis and his staff had to rely heavily on the defense.

By that reporter’s count, the Kits sank a total of 32 3-point baskets --- 17 by the winning Blue team --- in a full four quarters of action.

Ellis, of course, won’t change his program’s focus from a defense-first approach as long as he’s in charge. But the ETHS mentor certainly prefers the current situation to last year, when all-Central Suburban League South selection Theo Rocca averaged 13 points per game but was really the only go-to player the Kits had on offense.

Rocca is the lone returning starter this year. But he shouldn’t have to carry the whole load on offense --- at least if his teammates saved some of those shots for the regular season, too.

“I really believe we have five or six guys who could score 20 points on a given night,” Ellis said. “We have a lot of highly skilled and cerebral offensive players. This year, I’m not worried about where our points will come from.”

Evanston had to lean heavily on its defense last year and did a remarkable job against one of the toughest schedules in the state of Illinois, limiting foes to an average of 46 points per contest. But the Wildkits only averaged 50.4 ppg themselves and shot just 32 percent as a team from beyond the 3-point stripe.

Rocca’s scoring slipped over the second half of the year, which ended prematurely with a regional tournament loss to Maine South that marked Evanston’s earliest exit from postseason play since 2011.

Now there’s a new cast of players and if foes can’t identify just who Evanston’s go-to player is on any night, that’s OK with Ellis.

It will also help with team chemistry, a vital component to the team’s success considering that two transfers --- 6-foot-3 point guard Kaidan Chatham and 6-7 forward George Richardson --- figure to join the starting lineup when the Kits make their debut against Chicago Latin at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Fenton.

Transfers have become a regular part of the building block for the basketball season now at ETHS and that’s an adjustment for the coaching staff, the returning varsity players and the newcomers to the system.

Chemistry experiments sometimes fizzle out, but so far, so good for Ellis and Co.

“I think chemistry is something that a coach can try to manufacture. But really, it has to come from high character on a team,” Ellis said. “It’s really on the players. All you can do as a coach is to try to foster it.

“We don’t have any selfish players. Chemistry is about how you treat others and we’re going to have better chemistry this year because we’ll have three or four options (to score) on the floor at the same time, not just one. We’ll have multi-dimensional ways to score.

“Chemistry also comes from making an investment in the game and that’s what these players have done. The more you put into it, the more you get from it, and these guys come in early, they stay late and they work out even on their off days. When you make that kind of investment, you have the opportunity for some great rewards.”

Chatham and Richardson both sought bigger roles than they had at Niles North and DePaul Prep, respectively, and left programs that will be among the strongest in the Chicago area again this winter for different challenges wearing a Wildkit uniform.

Chatham didn’t get many touches even as a starter at North, considering that the coach’s son there is the starting point guard, and will have the ball in his hands a lot more beginning on Tuesday. And Richardson saw his playing time off the bench diminishing with new recruits arriving at private school DePaul.

Both seniors are, as they say, just happy to be here.

“They’ve both fit right in with the other guys (after playing for ETHS over the summer, too),” said Ellis. “George really fills a need for us with his size and his length. He’s very skillful on offense and he can put the ball in the basket. And this is Kaidan’s third year of varsity basketball and he’ll give us some length out front. We think we can count on him to be a defensive stopper. He’s such a competitor and he brings a real fire to the game. He’ll make our team better.

“I’m really impressed by the way the two of them are learning about our culture --- and our expectations --- here.”

Rocca’s younger brother, 6-foot-5 sophomore Vito Rocca, and 5-10 senior guard Ian Peters are other returning veterans with varsity experience. Rocca started 12 games as a freshman --- the first player in ETHS history to start the season opener as a rookie --- but, despite Ellis’ appreciation for the intangibles he provides on defense and on the boards, only averaged 3.1 points per game. And Peters hopes to pick up his own scoring pace after contributing just 3.9 ppg as a junior.

“I thought Ian had the best preseason of any of the guys in camp,” Ellis praised. “He’s been our most consistent and most communicative player out there. He’s always in the right spot, and makes the right decisions, the right reads.”

Offensive punch might also come from the newest player in the program, guard Ben Ojala. At first glance you couldn’t tell in the summer campaign that Ojala was just a freshman-to-be and his high basketball IQ kept him from making the same rookie mistakes twice during his first experience playing at the varsity level.

Ojala isn’t just a shooter --- he’s a scorer.

“Ben can catch and shoot, he can score off the dribble and he really understands the game,” said Ellis. “He could be a 20-point guy for us on a given night. What really impresses me is now he’s not afraid of the moment. No matter how bright the lights are, that doesn’t keep him from performing well.

“We just need him to perform consistently, like he’s on that big stage all the time.”

Also challenging for playing time are seniors Emmett Sehgal, Jayden Rodriguez and Ryan Ivory; juniors Monte Dillard Jr., Miles Ross, Elliot Pratt, Tristen Wilcox and Timi Ogunsanya; and sophomore Dion Lane Jr., who scored 17 points in that Saturday scrimmage with his smooth southpaw shooting stroke.

Evanston’s schedule will provide plenty of hurdles again in 2024-25. The Kits will return to Fenton with pool play games against Latin on Tuesday, Willowbrook on Wednesday (6 p.m.) and Fremd on Friday (5:30 p.m.) before the final round set for Saturday.

The Centralia Holiday Tournament (Dec. 26-28) and three shootouts will also highlight the schedule along with the usual grueling tests only the Central Suburban League can provide.

The shootout slate features games against Riverside-Brookfield (Dec. 14 at Mount Carmel), Benet Academy (Feb. 1 at the War On The Shore at Loyola Academy), along with the latest addition, the Metamora Shootout on Jan. 25. The Wildkits will meet the host school, which won the Class 3A Illinois High School Association state championship in 2023 and returns two Division I players from last year’s squad.

It will be a return to his Central Illinois coaching roots for Ellis, harkening back to his days at Peoria Richwoods. Metamora coach Justin Dehn played point guard for Ellis when he led Richwoods to a state runner-up finish before coming to ETHS. “It will be a good test for us,” Ellis said.

“We’re hoping to compete for the top spot in the conference --- it’s been a couple of years since we have, and history shows you that usually the best team in the conference will be playing for a lot (deep run) in the state tournament, too. If you can come out on top in this conference, it seems that you’ve set yourself up for a pretty good postseason.”