Pima Aztecs 'have all of the pieces' in Brian Peabody's historic season

When the buzzer sounded at West Campus Aztec Gymnasium on Saturday, Pima men’s basketball coach Brian Peabody reached a milestone in his coaching journey.

The Aztecs’ win marked Peabody’s 250th career victory at Pima College. Peabody is six wins away from reaching 700 in his career as a head coach between his stops at Pima, Green Fields Country Day School, St. Gregory College Prep (Now know as The Gregory School), Ironwood Ridge High School and Salpointe Catholic.

“I don’t think about that,” Peabody said of his 250-win mark. “I tell people all the time, it just means I’m getting old and I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m sure there will be a day where I look back on the journey and everything, but it’s just been a blast. I wouldn’t change anything.

“I’ve had unbelievable coaches with me. (Assistant coaches) Mike Morgan and Matt Binder have been with me for over 30 years. I just had my 25th wedding anniversary, so they’ve been with me longer than my wife. It’s been a fun journey for all of us. We’re going to hopefully keep this thing going. As long as I don’t get fired or anything like that, we’re going to keep doing it.”

Pima’s success this season — throughout Peabody’s tenure — bodes well for the longtime head coach. This season, the Aztecs have jumped out to an 18-0 record and are now No. 5 in the NJCAA Division II Poll.

Pima has outscored its opponents 1,951-1,238 (713-point differential) this season and is averaging 108.4 points per game.

Following a road game at Phoenix College on Wednesday, Pima’s men’s and women’s basketball programs host Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

Peabody joined “Spears & Ali” on ESPN Tucson to discuss the current state of Pima’s red-hot basketball program.

What is key to Pima’s success this season? A: “You get a team like this probably every five to 10 years, where they all just like each other and they care about each other, they root for each other and they play for each other. In today’s game, that doesn’t happen very often. We got lucky with the right kind of guys with high character and they all play for each other.”

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How were you able to assemble a cohesive roster? A: “Our best player is Cohenj (pronounced kow-uhn-jay) Gonzales. He’s a 5-7, 5-8 point guard and was the (ACCAC Division II Freshman of the Year) last year and averaged 18 (points per game). He’s doing the same exact thing. He’s a really, really good player. He’s one of our team captains. Our other team captain is Gabe Oldham, the leading rebounder in the conference last year and is the leading rebounder in the conference this year. ... We just built our team around those two.

“Then we have other two guys, Kota Benson and Wes Ball, who both started for us periodically last year. We’re really bringing back four starters from our group last year. We just needed to put some pieces around those guys, which we did with Max Majerle and Mason Hunt. One of my favorite to coach is Brigg Wolfe, who looks like a middle linebacker playing basketball. He can really defend. We have all of the pieces. As long as I don’t screw it up, we should make a run at this thing.”

Majerle is the son of Phoenix Suns legend Dan Majerle. What’s your assessment of Max Majerle, and have you noticed any similar traits to “Thunder Dan?”

A: “We pretty much had the same team we had last year with the exception of Dillan Baker; he’s now playing at NAU. That’s who Max came in and replaced. They’re both really good shooters. They can both catch and shoot. They stretch the defense and once that opens up for us, we have three really good post players that can all score inside. If he’s catching and shooting and doing what he does, it opens up for all the other guys. ... Dan didn’t start shooting until he got to the NBA. When he was at Central Michigan, he only made one (3-pointer) and then he got into the NBA and started shooting. Max isn’t as big as his dad, but they can both jump and shoot, so there are similarities. They’re both really good shooters and that’s what Max brings.”

How do you expect your team to handle the pressure of the unbeaten streak?

A: “We had individual meetings (on Monday) and that’s what we addressed. We haven’t played well in the last couple of games and I don’t know if it’s the pressure or if there’s something going on. We had individual meetings and then met as a group to talk about that stuff. The good thing about this team, we don’t have to do anything and say, ‘Hey, we need to do X,Y and Z in order to win this game.’ All they have to do is play normal. They don’t have to go above their averages and everybody just brings their average to the table. As long as we do that, we’ll be fine. The good thing about this team is that a different guy can step up every night. ... We share the ball and it’s fun to watch and fun to coach.”

Approaching the second half of the schedule, what would you like your team to improve on?

A: “The biggest thing — this is on me, not them — is preparing our guys for the last two or three minutes of the game. We didn’t handle it well against Scottsdale. Against Scottsdale, we were up 18 (points) with three minutes to go and they cut it to eight. I’m not bragging by any stretch, but we haven’t had a lot of close games where we had to make decisions, make the right passes, free throws and all of that. ... I just want to get better in those situations.”