Heggie enthused with start to season

By Lethbridge Herald on October 30, 2025.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks men’s basketball team have clawed out two road wins on their four-game road trip to start the season which has their head coach beaming about some areas of their game.

Head coach Ryan Heggie has been happy with the team’s defensive game right out of the gate.

“You can always play defence,” said Heggie.

“When you’re struggling on offence you can always show up and play defence and that’s what we do. And a lot of our offence, when we’re rolling pretty good, comes from our defensive pressure. Either the other team puts up quick shots, or we steal the ball, or we get a turnover.”

Heggie has been impressed with rebounding early the season as they are collecting on average nearly 40 rebounds a game, the team’s  over 70 per cent from the free throw line and with the turnovers only reaching on average up to 12 a game.

Heggie would like to see the team improve in assists as those are at an average of 10 per game and making more three-point  shots  which are only clicking at 25 per cent.

The Kodiaks great start has come with having  eight rookies on the roster, who are filling eight vacancies  that were left from last season.

“We’re putting new players into the line-up that gotta learn our systems and how our team operates,” said Heggie.

“We’re getting better every game, every practice, (and) so we’re a work in progress but I’m confident that we’ll start putting up more points on the board.”

By being on the road early in the season it has allowed the Kodiaks to mesh as a group.

“With new players joining the program, it’s a good time to get to know each other,” said Heggie.

“We’ve got several players from different backgrounds and they need to get to know each other better.”

The Kodiaks wrap up the trip at The King’s University tonight and then play at Northwestern Polytechnic tomorrow.

The Kodiaks edged St.Mary’s University 69-62 on Oct. 24 and opened the season with a 78-62 win at Concordia University of Edmonton on Oct. 18.

The Kodiaks home opener is on Nov. 7 versus SAIT at 8 p.m.