ang Hong-seok washed away the sluggishness and led the team to victory.
Suwon KT met Goyang Carrot in the 2022-2023 메이저놀이터 Adot Pro Basketball regular season game held at Suwon KT Arena on the 27th and won 90-76.
KT faced a big change ahead of this off-season. Existing ace Heo Hoon (180cm, G) left the team due to military issues and replaced all foreign players. As the team changed drastically, Yang Hong-seok had to keep the center of the team.
However, Yang Hong-seok recorded an average of 10.6 points in the first round and showed less than expected performance. And he was not good at breathing with the two newly recruited foreign players. As a result, KT fell into the bottom ranks.
In response, KT made a bold decision. Two foreign players were replaced at the same time. And it seemed to hit the mark. It was KT who won all of the first 6 games after replacing foreign players. Yang Hong-seok also stirred up his opponent’s net more when new foreign players provided more space. KT and Yang Hong-seok also succeeded in rebounding.
However, after the streak, KT fell into a losing streak again. In particular, in the last 5 games, 1 win and 4 losses were sluggish, and they fell back again. Yang Hong-seok also scored an average of 6 points in that section. In particular, in the last two games, they only posted 3 and 2 points.
Nevertheless, KT coach Seo Dong-cheol showed his trust in Yang Hong-seok. In an interview before the match, coach Seo said, “(Yang) Hong-seok also gets stressed when he doesn’t work out. He has been sluggish lately with no shots going in. He needs to know how to get rid of it quickly even if he doesn’t go in,” he said. “Today, I ordered Hong Seok-i to play a wide range of activities. I will do well today,” revealing his trust.
And Yang Hong-seok responded. In the first quarter, Yang Hong-seok did not show much performance. He played all 10 minutes, but only took 2 shots. However, Yang Hong-seok came out as a 180 degree different player in the second quarter. He led a quick attack after first rebounding. In the first attack, he passed to an empty Jung Sung-woo and earned an assist.
And he reported the first point of the quarter with a cut-in score. This signaled the beginning of Yang Hong-seok’s activities. After that, he aimed for the bottom of the opponent’s goal with a fast-tempo attack. He scored in a variety of ways. In particular, he relentlessly aimed at his opponent’s paint zone. As a result, he alone drove 8 points in a row. Thanks to Yang Hong-seok’s performance, KT succeeded in 11-3 runs.
In addition, Ha Yoon-ki (204cm, C) and 2-on-2 attack helped Ha Yoon-ki to score. This made KT 38-26.
KT, who set the mood with Yang Hong-seok’s performance, continued to drive. The performance of Kim Young-hwan (196cm, F) and Lee Doo-won (204cm, C) were added to widen the score gap. KT started the second quarter with a score of 25-21, but finished the second quarter with a score of 56-34. At the center was Yang Hong-seok. Because he recorded 12 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds in the 2nd quarter.
Yang Hong-seok only played 6 minutes in the 3rd quarter. He was not as sharp as in the second quarter, but he was active in the offense and defense and added vitality to the team. And he broke through the opponent’s defense and helped the team’s offense with a pass. KT, who added Yang Hong-seok’s performance to Ha Yoon-ki’s performance, won the game with the remaining time in the 4th quarter.
Yang Hong-seok recorded 16 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in the game that day. His court margin was also the highest at +25. He contributed to the team in invisible defense, tempo push, and various other ways.
Yang Hong-seok, whom we met after the game, said, “The flow was good in the second quarter. So he worked more actively to maintain the flow. However, he thought there was no need to overdo it in the third quarter. Other colleagues have been very good.”
In this performance, the director also showed satisfaction. Coach Seo said in an interview after the game, “I didn’t say anything other than a defensive miss in the first quarter. However, in the 2nd quarter, the image I had hoped for so far came out. I played basketball together, basketball where I knew how to assist. Today’s game was so good that I wanted to express it as ‘I opened my eyes to basketball’,” he praised Yang Hong-seok.
It was coach Seo who showed trust despite the sluggishness of the ace, and Yang Hong-seok, the ace who lived up to it. That’s how KT is getting stronger.