By Scott Doane
UWRF Sports Information

In his freshman year, Scott Kelly had a very important role with the Falcon basketball team.

He played in 23 games and started 10 in his first season. He was the shooter the Falcons relied upon.  

This year has been a little different. The team has struggled throughout the season and so has Kelly. Falcon Coach Rick Bowen believes his team struggles are related to Kelly's struggles.

"This season he started off where he left off," Bowen said about the sophomore. "But he's hit a brick wall as of late. He's struggled."

Hitting this brick wall has put a huge dent in Kelly's playing time. In the opening game of the season against Concordia-St. Paul, Kelly played 25 minutes. In the second game of the year against St. John's, he played 33 minuets. But as of late, his playing time has been decreasing.

Bowen says that he doesn't see the confidence that he saw in Kelly during his freshman year.

"He's having trouble standing on the beach and throwing the ball in the ocean," Bowen said about Kelly's shooting as of late. "It's all confidence. I can't see anything in his shot mechanically that I can change."

Bowen went on to compare Kelly's play this season to golf. He says that some days, you can be on the top of your game and shoot a 60. Others, you can just be totally cold and shoot 100.

What Kelly has struggled doing this season is one of his strengths, shooting.  

"Scott's a shooter," Bowen said. "I think he's a natural shooter. He's got a great release.   He's a kid I really would like to see play more minutes."

Kelly himself believes that there is always room for improvement in his game. He says that his "shooting can always get better," and that his confidence in general could be higher.

Even though this season is not going as well as he would have hoped, there are some things in Kelly's game that he believes are better than in his freshman season.

"I think that I got a lot stronger from last year," Kelly said. "It helped me both on offense and defense. Last year, I got manhandled and pushed around a lot. It just kind of helped everything."

Starting as a freshman is never an easy thing in college basketball. Kelly experience was no exception. He says that he was nervous in the beginning of the year but adjusted quickly. This year, he has adjusted to the speed and talent of college game.

He believes that the team is a lot better and closer this season than last. "It seems like everyone on our team gets along well," Kelly said. "We came close and competed in every single game, we just haven't won. We have more leaders this year."

Kelly has been playing basketball since the third grade. He says that playing hockey in kindergarten made him look to basketball.  

"I played hockey in kindergarten," Kelly said about growing up. "I hated it. So I've been playing basketball ever since."

Kelly is majoring in business administration with a coaching minor. When he gets done with his schooling, Kelly would like to go back to Hastings and work for his father's business. He also hopes to coach high school basketball.

In his spare time when Kelly is back home, he enjoys anything that involves the outdoors. He enjoys fishing and boating. He claims that the biggest fish he's ever caught was a 28-inch walleye last summer.

When he is in River Falls, he is just like a normal college student. Kelly enjoys playing video games. His favorites are sports games like NBA Live or Tiger Woods golf.  

For the rest of the season, Kelly has some high goals set for him and the Falcons.

"We could win a few games in the conference tournament and open a lot of people's eyes. Hopefully if things go right we could be playing for a championship."

Scott Kelly