River Forest, Ill. — Following a six-point road loss on Wednesday night, the Concordia Chicago men's basketball team (0-6) heads right back on the road for a pair of conference battles with the Rockford Regents (2-3). 

CUC was superb from the charity stripe in Wednesday's loss to Wabash, converting on 18-19 attempts. Heading into the game, Head Coach Steve Kollar said the team needed to eliminate mistakes that hurt themselves. In addition to capitalizing on free throw attempts, the Cougars held a slight edge in the turnover battle. There is no doubt the signs are pointing toward progress for the young team.

"We just have to keep chipping away, we are showing the toughness to fight and showing glimpses of what we can be, but now we have to put it all together," Kollar said. "We see things that we can and will clean up that will put us in position to finish games. You have to learn how to win."

Learning how to win is something that experienced players tend to spearhead, and veteran Cougar players have been setting the example by heating up in recent games. Senior Justin Schwarz (Edwardsville, Ill.) and junior Izak Ruddell (Saint Joseph, Mich.) dropped 17 points a piece against Wabash. This follows back-to-back 25-point games from fellow veteran and Chicago native, Jordan Matthews. 

The attitude and standard set by veteran players is starting to feel contagious. Freshman forward William Bishop-Green scored a season-high 10 points off the bench on Wednesday, shooting 2-2 from beyond the arc. Freshmen Justin Greenlee (Brown Deer, Wis.) and Emanuel Wilson (Wheaton, Ill.) have proven they can be effective without scoring, grabbing a combined 11 rebounds from the guard position against Wabash. 

Coach Kollar knows he has a team that is committed to one another and they will feed each other's confidence as they work toward taking the next step. 

"We are connected and we are staying together and that will make us that much more dangerous once we get over this hump," Kollar said. "We are talking about this and have talked about this all year."