STILLWATER, Okla. — Coaches always preach conditioning in sports. From football to basketball, a well-conditioned team typically can withstand the lengths of games and of season.

But said conditioning isn’t exactly the same. And Stillwater High sophomore Jon Littell is finding that out the hard way.

After a successful sophomore season as a member of the SHS football team, Littell — who played defensive back and wide receiver — has been working his way into “basketball shape.” While the rest of his hoops teammates had the luxury of preseason conditioning, Littell was delayed by the football squad qualifying for the 6A playoffs.

“It’s just a lot different. The conditioning for football is a lot more different because you get plays off, but in basketball it’s more non-stop,” Littell said. “But I feel like I’m getting in better shape every day.”

Fortunately for the sophomore three-sport standout, he isn’t exactly alone in his journey through the first part of basketball season.

Junior Tyler Holcomb knows exactly what Littell is going through. Last year, Holcomb also went from football to basketball and took some time trying to get into basketball shape following the football season.

This year, however, Holcomb decided to sit out the football season to focus solely on the upcoming basketball season.

“I wanted to spend more time in the gym because I knew we lost nine seniors, so we were going to need to put a lot of work in — we weren’t going to be handed anything,” Holcomb said. “It’s helped, because I’m in a lot better shape at the start of the season. I’ve slimmed down some, so I’m able to run the floor better. It’s just great getting that head start, because I’m not used to doing that. I’m used to catching up coming out of football.”

Littell said the transition  has been made smoother with Holcomb helping him in practice and pushing him to get into the shape needed for the basketball court.

“He’s been encouraging me the whole way to just work hard every day in practice because that’s what it’s going to take to get you to where you need to be,” Littell said. “Early on, when I was really struggling to make the transition, he just picked me up and told me some of the stuff he went through and it’s really helped me.”

The sophomore has slowly been coming along, with already scoring double digits a few games this season. In Tuesday’s 68-41 blowout of Enid, he scored 11 points — going 4-for-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line — and hauled in four rebounds.

“I actually feel I’m right there now. I feel the last couple of games, I’ve been able to play my game through the conditioning getting better,” Littell said.

While Littell claims he is already in basketball shape, his head coach still sees some progress needing to be made. But according to Michael Davis, when Littell truly is in game form, this Pioneer squad — which is already 6-1 on the season with a Bixby Tournament title under its belt — will be stronger that was in the first “half” of the schedule.

“With Jon Littell, the more basketball shape he gets into — because we haven’t seen anything yet with him this kid, I think he has a chance to be really good once he gets in basketball shape,” Davis said.