Jackson County Boys Basketball Coach Kevin Thomas said his team must approach each game in the state tournament as its own battle.
The Blue Devils will face Jackson Central-Merry in the Class 2A state quarterfinal Wednesday night. The matchup marks the county’s first appearance since the 2007-2008 season.
“I’ve been there and understand what it’s like to play on that bigger floor,” Thomas said. “And so I’m, you know, trying to get those kids to learn from what we didn’t do well [last week,] you know, let them know this is how you have to communicate so much more, you know, when you go into an event like we’re going to at the Murphy Center.”
Jackson County defeated East Nashville by 11 in last week’s sectional round. But Thomas said his team must adjust how it handles things this week.
“For us we’ve always preached one game at a time.” Thomas said. “It’s a three game tournament but you can’t play in day three until you win day one. So we’re just trying to focus on ourselves right now and prove, we had some communication problems with that big crowd.”
Jackson Central-Merry stands 21-9 following a sectional round win over Fairley. The team has won 15 of its last 16 games dating back to January 7. The only loss came in the district tournament.
“They’re similar to East Nashville in a way.” Thomas said. “They do have a post player that’s gonna play there inside where East Nashville tried to play five guards at times. Very similar in size, very quick, going to press, we know that, and their best player is probably their point guard who’s, he looks to get to the paint off ball screens, trying to penetrate and kick.”
Wednesday’s game marks the first matchup ever between the two teams. Jackson County in search of its first state semifinal appearance. This is Jackson Central’s first-ever state appearance.
“I feel like we got a decent matchup for the first round. I really do.” Thomas said. “So hopefully we come out and play well.”
