YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The Arizona Western Matadors are back on the hardwood and after one of their best seasons in recent years, the team is ready to make another run at a Region One title.<\/p>\n
Coming off a 23\u20138 campaign that ended just shy of a championship, Head Coach Kyle Isaacs returns for his 17th season leading the Matadors. After last year\u2019s motto of \u201cembrace the process,\u201d Isaacs says this year\u2019s theme is all about precision.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone embraced the process that was kind of our team motto last year,\u201d Isaacs said. \u201cThis year it\u2019s dominate the details, and it\u2019s so much easier when you have six guys who know exactly how you want things done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isaacs says the team is focused on keeping its identity built on toughness, defense, and physicality while also improving a key weakness from last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main focus was keeping our identity \u2014 being tough, being physical, really getting after people on defense,\u201d Isaacs said. \u201cBut we had to fix that outside shooting issue, and I think we\u2019ve got a better opportunity this year to make shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophomore guard Engel Gutierrez, from Miami, says an active offseason helped him boost his confidence heading into the new year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel way better \u2014 I was playing back home in summer league, and that helped me gain more confidence in myself,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cWe\u2019re working hard every day, trying to get one percent better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redshirt sophomore forward Paora Winitana, from Alpine, Utah, is also ready to make an impact after a season of readjustment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely excited,\u201d Winitana said. \u201cI took a break before playing again, so last year was kind of a readjustment for me but I\u2019m ready to get back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a returning core, an experienced coaching staff, and a renewed focus on detail, the Matadors believe they have what it takes to make another deep playoff push this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The Arizona Western Matadors are back on the hardwood and after one of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":307407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-307406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115382513894008749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}