Sophomore Lee Seung-gu (F, 190 cm) set the tone for the rest of the game with his defense.
Kyung Hee University’s Lee had six points, four rebounds, and one assist in the team’s 60-48 win over Hanyang University in the 2023 KUSF University Basketball U-League at Hanyang University Olympic Gymnasium on Thursday.
Speaking after the game, Lee said, “I was doing well in the first half, but I had a difficult game in the second half. I’m glad we won,” he said after the game.
Despite the 12-point win, the team struggled with Hanyang’s pressure defense in the second half, falling behind 7-21 in the third quarter. “The coach told us that we would come out strong, but we didn’t prepare well in that area,” said Lee Seung-gu. So the coach emphasized it one more time and we took it well,” said Lee.
Despite scoring in single digits, Lee contributed to the team’s victory with his defense and dirty work. “First of all, (Park) Sung-jae and (Pyo) 안전놀이터 Seung-bin are the main scorers, and I tried to stop them well, but it didn’t work well in the man-to-man defense. So we switched to a zone defense, but Hanyang players couldn’t break the zone well, so we went with a zone. We keep practicing it. It was unfortunate that we lost a lot of rebounds in the zone.”
Although his defense led the team to victory, his scoring was low. He said, “I think my strength is being nasty. My role is to be a shooter and to put one in when it counts, but even if I’m not scoring, I’m still helping the team, so I hope you can see that,” he said.
There are only four games left. After a rough start to the season, Lee has vowed to turn things around in the second half. “I’m training with the goal of winning all the remaining matches. We had a very bad start, so I’m working really hard to not show that.”