The Knoxville Boys Basketball Squad is looking forward to starting the new year off as the Panthers will embark on a very busy stretch of games against two of the top teams from the South Central Conference. Coach Troy Pearson tells KNIA/KRLS Sports they have been working on three things to improve on during the break.

Pearson: “One is boxing out, that’s been a struggle early in the season, and other is stopping the dribble drive, we’ve been giving up way too many easy layups, and the third is communication. I don’t think as young as we are, we’re confident yet to tell each other where they need to be, so we need some guys to step up and communicate. But they’re getting better and it’s just baby steps.”

Pearson adds on the offensive end of the court, they are learning to take better shots and what is a good shot as opposed to a bad shot. The Panthers will restart the season Tuesday at Centerville. After that, Knoxville faces the two favorites for the conference title on back-to-back nights as they travel to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Thursday January 6th for a make-up game and then return home for the Hall of Fame game against Albia next Friday.