Julius Porter a mainstay for improving UM-Dearborn basketball program

Originally published by BallinMichigan.com

As the lone senior on the University of Michigan-Dearborn‘s basketball team, guard Julius Porter has experienced a lot. In fact, he’s not only been a part of the program longer than his teammates, he’s been a part of it longer than his coach as well. John Mackson is entering his second-year coaching the team, and Porter’s stability has been a good building block for the program.

“He’s our lone senior and he’s one guy who has been in the program the longest, stuck it out through thick and thin, and he’s a guy who has a lot of knowledge to offer to everyone else on our team,” Mackson said.

Porter averaged 14.6 points per game as a junior, which led the team, and was a pre-season All-WHAC selection this season. The team only won three games last season, finishing 3-27, but Porter believes a talented incoming class as well as coaching stability will help the team, which is currently 1-1, improve.

“We’re a lot better than we were last year,” Porter said. “Guys are older, bigger, faster, stronger and got playing experience. Most guys didn’t have a lot of playing experience last year. We graduated a lot of people, so coach has been able to put his program into effect and we’re seeing the results.”

Mackson noted that through two games, the team’s defense has shown the most improvement.

“Defensively, we’re playing better than we were a year ago,” Mackson said. “The first few games last year, we were giving up like 84 a game. This season, we’re giving up 70 a game, the field goal percentage of teams we’ve played against is down a little bit and we’re doing a little bit better job, but there’s still some improvements that need to be made.”

The team is incorporating several new players into the rotation and that has made the offense more of a work in progress early on.

“Offensively, we’re not really finding ourselves yet because we have so many pieces we’re fitting in, people playing new positions or having different roles from what they had a year ago,” Mackson said. “Of course, size is a big problem right now. We just don’t have a lot of it.”

Freshman Eric Murphy has asserted himself as a go-to option already this season and sophomore Jamiel Strickland hit the game-winner in the team’s season-opener. Those are both good signs for Porter, whose shooting and speed are still weapons for the team, but he also doesn’t have to be the primary source of scoring on the perimeter.

“I try to use my speed, beat guys down the floor, get my shot in catch and shoots,” Porter said. “We’re much better than we were last year, we have a lot of guys who can score and get up and down the floor. My game, in general, I just try to get to my spots and play loose.”

Mackson said that Porter’s best attributes include his ability to not get down on himself and continue being confident in his abilities even if his shot isn’t falling.

“Mentally, he’s pretty tough,” Mackson said. “He never lets one shot carry into the next. A lot of shooters, if they miss a shot, they start to get down on themselves. He’s not like that. He’s going to keep firing the ball. You never have to doubt whether or not he’s playing hard. He’s always going to give you 100 percent effort.”

Porter’s most important role is simply conveying the principles that Mackson wants instilled in the program to his young teammates.

“I’m a mentor, mostly,” Porter said. “Just showing them what coach wants to do, working hard, obviously books first since classes at Michigan are pretty hard. We work on going hard for all 40 minutes and competing on every possession, that’s what we preach here.”

The team lost 71-43 to Rochester College on Nov. 7, but Porter and Mackson both noted that there are things that can be taken away from that loss to one of the nation’s top NAIA teams.

“We are trying to get better and get ready for conference play and just take something from every game and learn from our mistakes,” Porter said.

“We try to schedule teams that we know are well-coached, we know are going to play hard and you know you’re going to benefit from playing them down the road,” Mackson said. “Rochester does a great job defensively, their communication is very good and they’re very physical. In our league, when you get in against the Indiana Techs and the Cornerstones, you hope that playing against that physicality helps down the road.”

Even if the wins don’t come immediately, Mackson is confident that the team is headed in a positive direction and will be a tough opponent most nights.

“We’re much improved team from a year ago in terms of our attitude and how we understand the game, so I think we’re going to be much more competitive,” Mackson said.