Pay close attention to the Unalakleet sideline and you’ll often hear the team’s coach Thurman Jack yell “Chaos!”
“That's what we call our defense, we want to create a panic chaos. They don't know where we're coming from or where it's going,” Jack explained of the approach.
Defense has become a pillar of the Wolfpack’s game in recent years. At last year’s ASAA 2A State Basketball Championships, Unalakleet held Cordova to just five points in the fourth quarter of the final. The lockdown defense and 14 points on offense was enough to give the Wolfpack its first state title since 1996.
“I think if you're going to talk about this team and the success that we've had, you talk about mistake response and defense,” Jack said.
Senior Trevin Soderstrom said “mistake response” – how the team reacts to adversity and setbacks – is another mantra the team repeats.
“I think mistake response was our biggest priority. Throughout the whole season it's been getting better,” Soderstrom said.
The team stumbled out of the blocks early in the season, with two home losses to 1A Shaktoolik and a loss to 3A Nome-Beltz at the Subway Showdown. All three Western Alaska schools are defending state champions in their respective divisions and returned key pieces from the previous season.
“Season started off pretty slow, so then Thurman put us to work. You know, how many down and backs?” Soderstrom said.
“How many killers?” senior Isaac Smith added.
“Felt like boot camp at that point. But that really got us up in the season, especially our physical strength,” Soderstrom said.
Following the Nome-Beltz loss, the Unalakleet team went on a 15 game win streak leading up to the 2A Northwest Conference tournament. In that span, Unalakleet outscored its opponents by an average of 36 points per game.
The team’s final tuneup game before the conference tournament against Chevak ended with a 95-44 win. Jack said the team carried that momentum into the tournament, but ran into trouble with Tikigaq in the semifinal.
“We knew that we should win these games and to come out and be down 12 and respond in that third and fourth quarter, the way that we did shows a little bit of our resilience,” Jack said.
The Wolfpack went on a 24 point run while allowing just 11 points, enough to earn a 59-49 win and send the team to the final against Dillingham.
“I knew we were gonna come back and take it,” Smith said.
Smith’s younger brother, Josh Smith, exploded in the final against Dillingham. The sophomore put up 24 points on the way to a 68-49 Unalakleet win.
The game at times felt like it was back in Unalakleet, with traveling fans and former residents alike packing the stands at Dimond High School in Anchorage.
“It feels good to have the support in the bleachers once again every year,” Soderstrom said.
“Yeah, it's almost like the gyms are louder in Anchorage when we come in,” Jack added.
Just after midnight, the team packed into Raising Cane’s for a fried chicken dinner promised in exchange for a win. With the state tournament less than a week away, the team will stay in Anchorage for final prep. Jack said the next thing on his list was getting the team back on a court.
“We're gonna get to sleep in tomorrow, start looking for gyms to practice in, and we'll probably have some alumni come in and practice against us,” Jack said. “We want to be focused. We want to have a practice where we're positive and give 100% effort and attitude.”
