Little has mighty fight for three games until state
There are three games left in the Greater Spokane League basketball season and the battle to see which teams get to keep playing beyond next week. It will be fierce.
Robert Little sees that and he wants desperately for his University teammates to be one of those teams. He and the class of 2015 have been to the postseason every year and, in his mind, not accomplishing what three senior classes have done before them, leading their team to the state playoffs, will have somehow let the program down.
“Every team has that as their first goal,” he said. “Getting your team to state. I think that’s a given. We want to do what those guys that came before us did.”
And that’s where a conversation with Robert Little takes a surprising turn that makes you feel very good about the future of the U-Hi boys basketball program.
How would it feel if you didn’t make the postseason?
“You know, I think if we give everything we have in every game we have left, if we leave it all out there on the floor, we’ll be just fine,” he said after pausing to contemplate something he probably hasn’t allowed to enter his thoughts. “If we do that, I think we can be OK with it.”
There are seven seniors on coach Garrick Phillips’ U-Hi roster this season, and they as close-knit as classes come.
“I think we’ve all been playing together since the third grade,” Little said. “It’s been fun playing with these guys. We’re just a goofy group of guys who like to hang out together, laugh together and play ball together.”
When you play together that long, Little explains, you learn to give up individual statistics in favor of winning games.
“We really couldn’t care less who has how many points on a given night,” he said. “We just want to win basketball games.
“We all just concentrate on doing the things we can control: playing good defense, taking care of the ball, diving on loose balls, getting rebounds. On offense we’re happy to get the ball to whoever has the hot hand that night.”
A 6-foot-2 guard/forward, Little is frequently one of those guys. In five GSL games he’s knocked down multiple 3-pointers, including a season-high five against Gonzaga Prep in their first meeting. He’s hit at least one in every game, save the first meeting with Ferris.
“Robert is a top notch kid and player,” Phillips said. “He is kind to everyone. He is well-liked by his coaches, teachers, teammates and classmates. His leadership this year has been excellent. He relates and communicates well with the coaches and the team.
“To our team, he brings a well-rounded skill set with no weaknesses. He is strong in all aspects – defensively, offensively, inside, outside and at the free throw line.”
Little is the kind of kid you want as a leader when you start putting together a basketball team, the kind of role model you look for because leadership qualities are so a part of who they are that then don’t think of themself as a role model.
And the kind of kid you want on the basketball court when everything is on the line, because they’re the kind of kid who keeps the whole scenario in perspective.
“It is such a blast to be playing games like this right now,” Little said. “I love going in every day and practicing because you just know how important these games are. To be in games like this – this is what you play basketball for.
“We put our heart and soul into these games. That’s why they’re so much fun to play in.”