Aguirre ready to take lead role for Hubs basketball team

Senior point guard aiming to become Rochelle's lead playmaker

Russell Hodges
Posted 12/7/17

Rochelle senior Angel Aguirre is the only starter returning from last year’s Hubs varsity basketball team that won 20 games and reached the regional finals. But the 6-foot point guard is ready to take a more active role on the floor this winter, and with three years of varsity experience under his belt, Aguirre is working to become a better play not only for himself, but for his teammates as well.

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Aguirre ready to take lead role for Hubs basketball team

Senior point guard aiming to become Rochelle's lead playmaker

Posted

Rochelle senior Angel Aguirre is the only starter returning from last year’s Hubs varsity basketball team that won 20 games and reached the regional finals. But the 6-foot point guard is ready to take a more active role on the floor this winter, and with three years of varsity experience under his belt, Aguirre is working to become a better playmaker not only for himself, but for his teammates as well.

The Hubs are 3-3 through their first six games this season with two victories over Genoa-Kingston and an exciting 77-70 triumph over Ottawa this past Friday in Rochelle’s Northern Illinois Big 12 West opener. Despite missing one game at the Sycamore Strombom Tournament due to injury, Aguirre is filling up the stat sheet early on, averaging 9.6 points, 3.6 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 83 percent from the free-throw line.

“We’ve had a pretty decent start,” Aguirre said. “As soon as we get everybody back we’ll be pretty good. I feel like I can play a lot better than I am right now… I looked up to some of the players from last year like Caleb Gould, Landon Griffith and Kyle Seebach. They were really good leaders and I just want to follow in their footsteps. Last year we had a bunch of shooters so I was more of a pass-first point guard, but this year I want to be more of a scorer.”

Aguirre picked up basketball in seventh grade, and despite spending some time on the soccer field, the senior narrowed in on basketball as his primary sport. A player who said he tries to model his game after NBA All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, Aguirre said he quickly develop his passion for the sport.

“Kyrie’s probably a guy I’d look up to and try to be like,” Aguirre said. “I had friends who played basketball and they would play almost every day, and once I started getting into it, I began to realize how much I like it… I enjoy having fun and I like making the cool plays like breaking people’s ankles.”

Aguirre enters this season as Rochelle’s most experienced varsity basketball player. He was only a freshman when he dressed for his first varsity game, and while he may have been shaking in his shoes at the time, he said the help of upperclassmen such as Aaron Mehrings and Tim Monfils allowed him to overcome his nerves and make the adjustment to the varsity level going forward.

“It was crazy,” Aguirre said. “I was nervous but I was also excited at the same time. When I first went in I was shaking and I didn’t know what to do, but after the game started I was fine. It was really fun… Aaron, Tim and a bunch of other guys always gave me advice during practice and they were definitely people I looked up to. Aaron Mehrings was one of my favorite point guards to watch here.”

Aguirre’s teammates like to jokingly call him “Ubaldo” in the team locker room, and while the senior prefers to go by his middle name (Angel), he said his father (also named Ubaldo) has been one of his biggest role models not only in basketball, but in school and in life as well. Aguirre said he wants to study business after high school in hopes of owning his own business in the future.

“My dad is somebody who I for sure look up to,” Aguirre said. “Coach [Tim] Thompson is another role model too because I like the way he coaches us.”

The Hubs will continue their season this weekend with a tough conference crossover game against the DeKalb Barbs at Rochelle Township High School. Aguirre said his team’s expectations are to win both the conference and the regional, and he said that practice, hard work and avoiding laziness will be the keys to the team’s success this winter.

“I feel like I had less pressure on me last year because I had other players around me who could make plays,” Aguirre said. “This year I need to be that player who does the right thing at the right time… We have to go hard all the time and not be lazy.”