Admitting that the pressure of his job had begun to affect his coaching, De Paul`s Joey Meyer vowed Thursday to ”come out swinging and do the job the way it should be done. I`ve got to make the moves I want to make.”
The first move Meyer intends to make in the wake of the Blue Demons`
67-63 loss to Dayton Wednesday night, their first home defeat in 37 games, is to reinstate Tony Jackson in the starting lineup.
After starting the first 12 games of the season at off guard, Jackson had been benched following a listless performance in a loss at Alabama-Birmingham.
Although he had been plagued by turnovers, Jackson was shooting at nearly a 55 percent clip through the first 11 games, but an 0-for-6 night at Birmingham plunged him into a monumental slump. The 6-foot-5-inch guard hit only 14 of 50 shots (28 percent) in the next eight games.
But Wednesday night, he hit 5 of 8 shots from the field, grabbed 4 rebounds and handed out 5 assists. Just as important, he had only one turnover.
”Obviously, Tony had a really good game and he`ll be in the starting lineup Saturday night,” said Meyer. ”He really fought hard in that second half, and if I can get him to play with that intensity all the time I`ve got my off guard back.”
Now Meyer needs to get his own confidence back. His team was regarded one of the best in the country before the season and now has dropped out of the top 20 by losing three of its last four games.
”I`ve let the pressure get to me a bit the last couple of games,”
admitted Meyer, ”and I can kick myself for that. I can`t succumb to the pressure, whether it`s self-imposed or not.
”I`ve been putting so much pressure on myself I haven`t been coaching the way I should. I`ve been too conservative and tight.”
He also has been second-guessing himself and ”thinking twice” about the moves he has been making. But starting Saturday night, when the Blue Demons play Pepperdine, he vows to coach more aggressively.
Right now, Meyer admits he`s still searching for answers to his team`s puzzling knack for losing close games. Princeton coach Pete Carril wondered aloud last week whether De Paul had a killer instinct.
”We`ve been right there in most of our losses,” said Meyer, noting that four of the Blue Demons` defeats have been by four points or less. ”But we don`t make the plays that win basketball games.
