Speed kills. At least that’s what the Highland High boys’ basketball team hopes during the ’24- ‘25 basketball season.
This season, seeing dynamic plays from the guards on the Highland High boys’ basketball team won’t be abnormal. The Rams return three of their rotation guards from last year and add another guard, Jordan Oberholtzer, who last season averaged 4.0 assist per game at Weber High School.
This addition gives Highland another ball handler and passer, opening more opportunities for Highland’s offense.
“He’s an elite passer, has great feel for the game, very competitive, he’s a great guard to add to the mix,” Highland basketball coach Chris Jones said.
Oberholtzer may have to sit out the first 12 games of the season due to the UHSAA transfer rule, but his impact will surely be seen on the court come early January, just in time for region play.
Other than Oberholtzer, the team possesses more good guard talent. Two of the five starters, juniors Bodie Dodge and star Isaiah Drisdom are dynamic at the point and shooting guard positions, starting senior Jack Anderton adds to that strong mix. All three having varsity experience is crucial for playing in close games down the stretch.
“Obviously having good guard play is great. It’s a recipe for being able to win close games, hopefully make free throws in close games, I like our whole team,” Jones said.
The team also strikes with good backcourt depth coming from the bench, with contributing players like Grady Lee and Charlie Hodge backing up some of the starters.
While they grow the strong guard rotation, the team is going to have to adjust to losing some of the size the team had on the court last year. The team’s offense relied heavily on size and strength last season, which helped the Rams be able to defend the post and score in the post easily and play a touch slower in the half court. With the size and strength of three players above 6-foot six gone, the teams’ style of play has changed.
“We need to play much faster, we want to be able to get up and down the court, we need to press more. Make it be a fast game, with a lot of possessions,” Jones said.
The team gets out in transition quickly due to forced turnovers and strong rebounding efforts. The team also runs a higher paced offense. This allows the team to score a handful of points. They opened the season with 50 first half points against Jordan High School before slowing down in the second half. They then followed it up 69 total points against Murray High, and recently scored 82 in a contest with Riverton High School. The team loves fast play, and it will be a recipe for winning games this season.
The team still starts a 6-foot-9 center in Soren Ries, and 6-foot-4 forward Vai Higby, but each of them plays in a different style than the center and power forward from last year’s team. Both are in and out of the paint multiple times during a possession, trying to put the ball in the basket as fast as possible.
“Vai has guard skills, even Soren has some guard skills,” Jones said.
This change in style makes it important to have playmakers at the guard position, which Highland has. If you want to play quickly and get into transition, you’re going to need good scorers, passers, and ball handlers.
“Having so many ball-handlers is huge, you can’t guard all of us and we have no weak links. It will be tough to pressure us,” Dodge said.
The guard room is deep, which fits right into Jones’s wheelhouse. Jones was an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Utah State from ’09- ‘16, where his primary duties included coaching the guards. Jones also was a coordinator, director of operations and assistant coach at the University of Utah, being able to be around two All-American guards, including a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame top men’s collegiate point guard in his time with the Utes.
“Coach Jones knows hoops better than anyone. He is key to our success. Jones is going to make it possible for us to do something great come February,” Dodge said.
Jones experience with these great collegiate guards creates a good process in developing Highland’s current and future guards and players to help build Highland basketball into a strong program.
“The kids are good players. All I try to do is get them better at what they’re good at. I always tell them it’s not my way, it’s not I have some magic recipe. I show them and tell them what great players do, and then they try and emulate what good players do and hopefully that helps them grow into great players themselves,” Jones said.
The Rams are trying to exceed the success from last year’s team, who made the 5A state championship semi-final game losing 57-50.
“Of course, we feel some pressure. We think we should’ve went all the way last year and that we ended our run short. We have what it takes to do something even more special than last year, winning state is our main goal,” Dodge said.
The teams high scoring, quick, kill-shot playstyle, helps the team jump out to quick leads early, building a strong start to each game. Great defensive pressure will cause those long scoring runs, which will help lead the rams to success in the state tournament in February.
The team is tight and loves playing with one another. A positive which can help grow success on the court.
“The great thing about this whole group is they are very connected. On the court, off the court, they hang together, go to dances together, and do a lot of stuff together. They really like each other. That’s always good and never going to be a bad thing,” Jones said.
