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Improving Drexel talkin' about practice

The process for first-year Drexel head coach Zach Spiker is all about practice, maybe even more important than the games, as the Dragons look to establish the habits that will lead to consistent success.

The process for first-year Drexel head coach Zach Spiker is all about practice, maybe even more important than the games, as the Dragons look to establish the habits that will lead to consistent success.

"I think every day we're understanding and learning that if we have the right approach, we get better," Spiker said Tuesday. "If we don't have the right approach, we don't set ourselves up for the best possible outcome on game days. Practice is such an indicator of that.

"It doesn't guarantee a win, but what we're trying to focus on is habits that lead to winning games. If you do those habits more than not, you put yourself in a position to win a game. It's still a ball, and it still bounces crazy ways, so you can't script everything, but you can try and control the variables that lead to winning as much as possible."

Spiker said the Dragons (7-11, 1-4 CAA) are making progress. Their 76-60 home win Saturday over Delaware gave them one more victory than last season while breaking a five-game losing streak.

He said his players "have done a good job of allowing us to coach them, accepting coaching. They definitely understand what we're trying to get across, and do."

The emphasis on defense, a staple of the program in Bruiser Flint's 15 years as head coach, remains. Spiker has the Dragons playing at a faster pace; they were 323rd in adjusted tempo last season, according to Kenpom.com, while this year they are 46th.

"The front porch of our program will always be defense," Spiker said. "We've got to get much better right now on the defensive end. Offensively we want to move the ball as quickly as possible while taking care of it, and sometimes that is a very fine line, but I think we're managing it and understanding.

"We want to play fast. We also want to get great shots, and a lot of times that goes hand in hand. If you're willing to run the floor, you can get better looks and beat your opponent down the floor."

Spiker had been successful with that system in his previous job at Army. In seven seasons as head coach, he led the Black Knights to 102 victories, which tied him with Bobby Knight on the academy's all-time list. Army won 19 games last year, its most in 38 seasons.

Before taking the Army job, Spiker was an assistant coach on Steve Donahue's staff at Cornell, helping build a program that won three consecutive Ivy League championships from 2008 through 2010.

Spiker, 40, said there was no bigger influence on his career than Donahue, to whom he jokingly referred as "the guy on the bad part of 33rd Street."

"I've got so much respect for Coach Donahue and how he goes about the daily grind and coaches his guys," he said. "I've learned so much from him."

The Dragons played well against Delaware, limiting the Blue Hens to 33.9 percent shooting while dishing out 20 assists against eight turnovers. They have a tough trip coming up this week with games at Elon and UNC-Wilmington.

To Spiker, games like this are won and lost by preparation and the players' approach in practice.

"If we bring the right mind-set, we understand what habits we've got to reinforce and what habits we've got to break, how we communicate with each other," he said. "Those are the things that I think result in winning over time."

jjuliano@phillynews.com

@joejulesinq