Junior Jimmy Hammer, the basketball team’s talented guard has been selected as The News-Letter’s Athlete of the Week for his tremendous play through the beginning portion of the season. Hammer has played a major role in leading Hopkins to a 4-3 overall start against a very tough schedule thus far. He opened the season with one of the best games in the program’s history when he put up an astounding 38 points. The News-Letter caught up with Jimmy to ask him a few questions about how the team plans to stay on track as conference play continues.
The News-Letter (N-L): Since the start of the season you have had a profound impact on your team. What else do you feel has led to such an effective beginning to the season?
Jimmy Hammer (JH): Our team worked really hard this offseason, and I feel this had a great impact on me. We worked in the weight room and on the court, and, so far, it has really paid off for me as well as the team
N-L: Scoring 38 points in the season opener had to feel great. What allowed you to have such success that night?
JH: Well, our entire team played very well that night. We were really clicking. I received great screens from my teammates to help me get open, and my teammates hit me with the ball at the right time to allow me to shoot. It was truly a great team effort, and I couldn’t have done it without them.
N-L: How does the team feel about their play so far? What are the strong points and weak points that need to be improved upon?
JH: We feel we have played pretty well so far. We are currently 4-3 with the three losses coming from very good teams where we battled the entire game. We are 2-0 in conference, and both of those wins were blowouts so those wins are great confidence boosters for us. Our strong points have been sharing the ball, our defense, cutting our turnovers and our free throw shooting. We also have a very deep team where our bench players are making great contributions. Some weak points that need to be improved upon include our shooting and allowing teams to make runs on us where we then have to fight back to get close again.
N-L: Now that you’re getting into conference play, how does your attitude change?
JH: Personally, I feel our attitude is the exact same. We go into every game knowing that it is a big game, and we need a win, and we play our hearts out. Conference games obviously mean more, and there definitely is much more intensity and desire to win the game in our locker room; however, we want to win no matter what. The rivalries in conference are definitely more fun than non-conference games, which make our conference games very fun to play.
N-L: What games do you anticipate being the biggest challenges in the near future?
JH: Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall and Muhlenberg are always tough tests, so those games will probably be our biggest challenges
N-L: What personal goals do you have set for yourself for the remainder of the season?
JH: Really to just be the best player I can be and help my team in any aspect they need. Whether that is making shots, rebounding, distributing the ball, playing great defense, etc., I just need to be there for my team to help get the win.
N-L: Can you talk about some short term and long term goals for the team?
JH: A short-term goal is to just take one game at a time and try to win every game. We would like to finish off the first part of the season at 6-3 after this week before our long winter break from Dec. 7 to Dec. 28 where we don’t have any games. That would put us at 4-0 in the conference and set us up nicely for the second pat of the season. Long-term goals are obviously to win the conference and make it to the NCAA tournament. These have been our goals since the fall, and everybody takes these goals very seriously.
N-L: Basketball is clearly a team sport, has there been anybody else stepping up this season, and how has the team managed to come together this early in the season?
JH: Everybody has stepped up this season, not only our starters, but also our bench players. There have been games already this season where some of our starters were struggling, and some of our bench players have come in, played fantastic and helped the team win the game. I think we have great team chemistry. We honestly do everything together, and I think this is a big part of how we have managed to come together this early in the season. We also had great fall workouts that could be a huge contribution as well.
You can catch Jimmy and the rest of his team back in action this Saturday in Allentown, Pa. where they will take on Centennial Conference foe Muhlenberg.
