‘Second place in the group’ is a realistic goal for Yongsanjung ace Kwak Gun-woo (182 cm, G).
Yongsanjung defeated Seongnamjung 64-62 in Group B of the Seoul Gyeongin Gangwon Region of the 2023 Secondary Basketball Weekend League on Tuesday at Gyeongbokgo Gymnasium. The game was tied until the third quarter, when Yongsanjung capitalized on the opponent’s crucial mistakes to secure the victory.
Yongsan’s ace Kwak Gun-woo played the entire game and finished with 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals to lead his team to victory. After struggling a bit in the first half, he came through with a 20-point second half.
“In the last tournament (during the Federation Championships), I showed complacency against Hwa Bong Joong, so I was given only 10 minutes of playing time because coach (Shin Seok) didn’t like it,” Kwak said. “Since then, I’ve made a mental note to do my best and work hard in every game, so I prepared for this tournament with a more aggressive attitude from training.
Yongsanjoong had won the last tournament by 16 points (63-47) over Seongnamjoong. Like then, Yongsanjoong was expecting an easy game, but it turned out to be different. Despite the win, Kwak Gun-woo was not happy.
“I don’t like the way I played today. I won, but I’m not happy. I think I was a bit rushed, and I missed a lot of easy shots. I also made mistakes on defense. I think we let our guard down a little bit because we beat them in the last tournament. I think we got complacent in the beginning and we didn’t get the lead. We panicked because their offense was working well, and we almost lost,” he said with a sigh of relief.
For a player who excels at driving in, 먹튀검증 Kwak Gun-woo’s weakness is his outside shot. He said that he is mentally shaken when his shots don’t go in.
“My drive-in ability is an advantage. On the other hand, my shooting and defense need improvement. I get mentally shaken when my shots don’t go in. I work on my shooting, but it’s still not good enough. I need to practice shooting more while moving.” Kwak says.
Kwak’s role models are Heo Hoon (Sangsung) and Kim Sun-hyung (Seoul SK). “They are both top-class guards in the KBL and I think I can learn a lot from them. They also seem to enjoy the game. I want to learn how to play 2-on-2 from Heo Hoon, and I want to emulate Kim Sun-hyung’s ability to handle fast breaks.”
Finally, Kwak set his goal for the tournament to finish second in his group. Group B, which includes Yongsanjoong, has been called the strongest team in the South Central region this season. Because of this, Kwak also set a realistic goal.
“First of all, today’s game was not good enough, so I will try harder to win tomorrow’s game (against Hwimunjung) and continue to win until the next opponent, Myeongjijung. (Realistically speaking, it seems difficult to win first place in the group), so I will try to qualify for the Wangzhong Championship by finishing second in the group,” he said.