Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Rookie Gregoire Piche-Wint has quickly emerged as a valuable sixth man for the MacEwan Griffins men's basketball team with his high compete level and tenacious defending, providing a huge spark off the bench.
In just his first season, Piche-Wint has been entrusted with big minutes for the team including starting the first two games of the 2019-20 Canada West season for the Griffins due to injury, where he debuted with a six-point, 10 rebound performance against Mount Royal University in a 96-80 loss.
Since then, he's fell in nicely as the sixth man on the deep bringing a multitude of skills to the floor.
"He's not quite ready to start, but he's one of our better performers," says head coach Mike Connolly. "He's a bright spot for our team and our future – Greg is going to be a good player with timing, playing here at MacEwan."
Piche-Wint will lead the Griffins (0-14) into action against the UBC Thunderbirds (12-4) on Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
Standing at 6-foot-6, Piche-Wint has quickly morphed into a defensive chess piece for head coach Mike Connolly, who's proven he can guard any position on the court for the Griffins. It's his effort and attitude on the defensive floor that sets him apart.
"He brings energy, he's our best defender right now of everybody," says Conolly "He can guard anywhere from the one to the five so, we play him on defence anywhere we need to and then he plays (on offence) mostly the three or the four."
Defence isn't the only strength Piche-Wint brings to the table for the Griffins, as he's producing across the board, averaging 6.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists a game in playing 22.6 minutes per game, sixth most on the team.
His last game in the David Atkinson Gym was his best of the season as he led the Griffins with a career-high 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including hitting three of four three-pointers.
"He's got a good skill level that allows him to be able to play minute right away and that's only going to improve," says Connolly. "He's a hard-working guy that competes, he's tough and that's the kind of guy we're building a program around."
It's been an impressive jump into Canada West basketball for the first-year player, who is one of just three rookies on the team.
"A rookie is going to be up and down, he's still struggling to learn to be as consistent," says Connolly. "He's doing his job – we're getting everything out of him that we can right now and he's doing admirably for a first-year kid."
Growing into his potential will take time, but Connolly is confident the Winnipeg native can take the next step into his basketball potential and grow into a future leader with the Griffins
"It's just a matter of being more consistent," says Connolly. "He'll be a more consistent shooter, his decisions when to drive will be better as he gets older.
"As he gets bigger and stronger and he gets years on him, he'll be thicker, he'll be able to even be more productive in the post, but he's productive everywhere we put him. As a rookie, he fights a little bit of inconsistency that every rookie fights."
