A slow start can derail a season fast. 

The White Knoll boys basketball team almost fell victim to this after starting their 2023-24 campaign 0-8. But the team has since clawed its way back towards .500, sitting at 8-10 entering region competition. 

The team’s slow start and sudden recovery can be pinpointed to many causes, but the largest was the availability of the team’s players. 

Many of the athletes are both football and basketball players, and the Timberwolves’ surprise run to the 5A football championship kept many key pieces off the court.

“We had four football guys that actually played for us, so they were with us this summer,” head coach Willie Thomas said. “We were kind of gelling this summer, but then not anticipating a long football season.”

White Knoll has played better since adding those guys to the rotation. Since snapping the eight-game losing streak, the Timberwolves are 8-2 and playing their best ball. 

Another reason for the team’s sudden turnaround is the man leading the charge. White Knoll is in its first season under Thomas, a hall-of-fame head coach with years of winning experience.

Thomas was hired after an 8-19 season last year, including an 0-8 record in region contests. The team has already matched their win total of last year and clinched a better record with last week’s win over Camden. 

Winning is something Thomas has experienced during his multi-decade career. He spent the previous six seasons with Orangeburg-Wilkinson, where he led the Bruins to the 2022 3A state championship game. He won two state championships at Bowman High School in 1989 and 1991 and three at Holly Hill-Roberts in 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Thomas’ career achievements earned him two prestigious coaching honors recently. He was inducted into the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022, and in 2023 he was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame. 

His coaching has the Timberwolves playing their best basketball of the season at a crucial point, but it wasn’t always that way. 

The team had serious issues at the beginning of the season and struggled to score points. The team lost six of those first eight games by double-digits and picked up its 20th consecutive loss dating back to last season. 

“There were some games we could have won or should have won,” Thomas said. “We were ahead in the fourth quarter in some, and we didn’t have those guys. We had six players some nights, some nights we had seven.”

It took more than just getting the football players back to turn the team around. The group had to get used to playing together as a unit in a new system under a new coach. 

White Knoll picked up its first win of the season against South Aiken on Dec. 15, beating the Thoroughbreds 60-44. The team then captured its second win against Denmark-Olar, avenging a 12-point loss from earlier in the season. 

Those contests were also the Timberwolves’ final two games before the holiday tournament portion of the schedule. 

The holiday season started with a loss for White Knoll, falling to Westside by almost 20 points. From there, the Timberwolves went on a six-game winning streak and would not lose another game in 2023. 

Thomas credited the team’s sudden turnaround to their dedication to fight through the early adversity and lock in on the important things in practice. 

“If they do the things we practiced the right way, the way we practiced it, we could be pretty decent,” Thomas said. 

The Timberwolves avenged another previous loss last week by defeating Camden. In the first contest, White Knoll narrowly lost by three with both teams shorthanded due to football. 

This time around, White Knoll took care of business and used a second-half push to beat Camden 73-57. 

“The effort was good, and they came back and executed what we wanted in the second half, and we were able to pull away from it,” Thomas said. “We’re just starting to mesh, just starting to understand that it’s going to take all of us and not one or two of us.”

White Knoll ended last week picking up its second loss of the season to Blythewood. That defeat however, does not negate the momentum the team has built over the past few weeks. 

With White Knoll starting region play this week, the games mean more and the margin for error is razor-thin. Thomas has a few areas he wants to see the team continue to improve on to be successful. 

“We’ve got to become better passers, and we got to see the floor a little better,” Thomas said. “We’re making too long passes,  things of that nature, and just understanding how to win, and understanding you don’t win with one possession.”

If all things come together Thomas and the team feel they can continue their impressive turnaround and make some noise in the postseason along the way. Until then, they are just enjoying the process.

“We’re just looking one day at a time, continuing to grow and get better a little bit every day,” Thomas said. “Hopefully that’s going to be enough to get us in the playoffs, and hopefully we’ll get through the region and be able to get a win or two in the playoffs.”