The Maroon Tide basketball team has had a turbulent start to the season.

A season opening win against Stone was followed by two losses to Gulfport and Forrest County.

Then, during a recent three game home stand, the team won against Pass Christian and West Harrison while losing to Hancock.

The team now sits at 3-3 and Head Coach Eric Vianney says his team is struggling to have the same energy and execution through four quarters. “We’re still struggling to find the guys that can be consistent. We got lost a lot of times and the effort is not there, but that’s something we have to improve on,” Vianney said.

Vianney said his players need to learn how to battle out of tough situations.

The squad is young, with only four seniors, but Vianney still wants to see passion and tenacity for the entirety of each game.

“It’s one of those things to decide to play hard and commit to good effort. We have to find a way to dig down and step up every game,” Vianney said.

Picayune’s next game was against the Laurel Golden Tornadoes on Nov. 29, but before the upcoming match up Vianney said there are a plethora of things his players need to work on in practice.

Basketball is a simple sport at its core and Vianney wants his players to get better at the basics.

Things like passing, ball handling, rebounding and defensive positioning will all be points of emphasis when the Maroon Tide players hit the court for practice.

There have been some positives for the young team as it moves into the middle of the season.

“At times when we move the ball, when we rely on the things we work on we look good, but we just don’t compete for the whole game. If we do that, then we’ll see the fruit of our work,” Vianney said.

Most recently against West Harrison the squad put on a good show both offensively and defensively. Sharpshooter Seth Stockstill, big man Sergio Williams and guard Derai Jones all had good games pushing the ball and orchestrating the offense while junior Trey Dorsett drew multiple charges against West Harrison.

Now, Vianney just wants to see his team put together similar performances as what he saw against West Harrison every time they get on the court. To do that the players will have to make sure they have their fundamentals right. “When we don’t pay attention to details, if you don’t guard and play hard I don’t know how you’re going to win,” Vianney said.

After the game against Laurel, the team will have a short layoff before playing Poplarville on the road Dec. 3 with tipoff set for 7:30.