Kane County Chronicle Athlete of the Week: Geneva’s Hudson Kirby, senior, boys basketball

Name: Hudson Kirby

School: Geneva, senior

Sport: Boys basketball

Why he was selected: Kirby scored a game-high 21 points to help Geneva defeat Naperville Central 56-48. He also helped the Vikings to a win over St. Charles North in DuKane Conference play.

Kirby was selected the Kane County Chronicle Athlete of the Week in an online vote.

Here is his Q&A with sports reporter Joel Boenitz.

Boenitz: You had a 56-48 victory over Naperville Central. How much of a confidence booster was it getting the win over a nonconference opponent like that?

Kirby: It really showed that even when things don’t go our way, we can just get scrappy and hit a lot of shots from the free-throw line and be confident, be a veteran team, hold the ball and make our free throws. It’s an important recipe to winning scrappy games.

Boenitz: You went 13 for 13 from the line in that game. How important is it for you to be a good shooter from the charity stripe?

Kirby: Definitely super important. As the defense tries to collapse more, and if I can’t spread it out to my teammates to the 3-point line, I need to go make my free throws. I struggled a little bit early on on my free throws, but they’re really feeling good right now, so I’m happy about that.

Boenitz: A lot of your points come from scoring in the paint. Talk about how important it is for you to have that presence in the paint?

Kirby: Whenever someone’s super close up to me, I feel I can get to the paint. Whenever I get the paint, it just feels great about it and I can finish anywhere. And then also, like, since I draw so many defenders to the paint, I’m able to hit my teammates out behind the arc. I know we’re shooting a high percentage on 3-pointers, so that works out a lot of time.

Boenitz: You guys are 7-0 in conference play, already surpassing your six conference wins from last season. What’s that feel like?

Kirby: It feels great right now, but there’s definitely been some close ones that we weren’t expecting. St. Charles North gave us a really good run in their game. But I think showing that beating Wheaton Warrenville South by so much that we can beat anyone by a ton or lose to anyone at any time. We have to stay focused the whole time and just never keep our foot off the gas.

Boenitz: What needs to happen to go for the perfect conference run?

Kirby: I think we’ve seen the recipe. The first half is just getting to know everyone, and now we all have all the film and it’s just who’s the most composed team who finishes down the stretch and we’ve seen those close games. So I think we know what we’re getting ourselves into every time.

Boenitz: Do you have any superstitions?

Kirby: I have a lot actually. I just like to read my Bible and pray before I leave the house and do everything the same, listen to music while watching the sophomore game, eat apples and a beef jerky and some electrolytes or a Celsius if it’s on a Friday. And then just go through the locker room and do everything the same.