ROCHELLE — Roughly 5 miles from Rochelle Township High School, the Hubs varsity basketball team worked out at Focus House on Monday to continue preparing for its season-opener against Genoa-Kingston at the Leland G. Strombom Holiday Basketball Tournament hosted by Sycamore High School.

“We’re all sort of at the beginning but we’re getting back into it,” junior Johnny Beck said. “Once we get all of the football players back, we’ll be much more competitive and we’ll be able to get after it even more. I want to be more of a team player… I think our defense was really good last year. We were aggressive and we had size at all of our positions.”

Head coach Tim Thompson and assistant coach Jared Johnson worked their players through various half-court sets on Monday, with Rochelle’s returning players blending in with newcomers and even underclassmen such as sophomores Seth Gould and Austin Brown. Senior Angel Aguirre is the only starter from last season back in a Hubs uniform

“I love all the juniors,” Aguirre said. “They fun to be with and I think we have a good group. We just need to get better, and I think we’ll be getting better soon. I definitely need to be more of a leader, and I feel like I need to step up as a communicator for my teammates.”

Rochelle will play Genoa-Kingston on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. The Hubs will then face Dundee-Crown on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 4:30 p.m. before battling Burlington Central on Friday, Nov. 24 at 6 p.m. Rochelle earned 20 victories during the 2016-17 season, and returning players including senior Riley Lodico are aiming for more this time around.

“It’s exciting,” Lodico said. “I’ve been waiting since the last season ended… My expectations for myself are very high. I want to be as big of a leader as I can and I want to step into a larger scoring role. Playing defense will be a key for me this year.”