Hello from the Freeman Center! A long but successful week for the Captains wrapped up with the team going 3-0, including two tough conference road victories over Greensboro and Methodist.
The guys started the week off on the right foot with a commanding 80-42 victory over Averett at home. For the coaches, it was great to see the way we defended and rebounded in this game. We made it very difficult for Averett to get good looks at the basket, and we really got on the boards on both ends of floor. Relentless defense and rebounding are the trademarks of most championship teams, and we are working towards getting this kind of effort on a more consistent basis.
On Friday we hopped on the bus and headed four-plus hours to Greensboro, NC. If you are a college basketball coach for an extended period of time, you will end up spending an absurd portion of your life on buses. Everybody has their own ways of making the time pass on long bus trips. Reading, listening to music, watching movies/game film, and, of course, sleeping are among the most popular bus ride pastimes. In case you were wondering (and who wouldn't be?), getting sleep on a bus requires skill; the confines of the space make it a challenge. Luckily for me, I am able to perform at the all-conference level in this area. My former colleagues at Wagner would constantly marvel at my ability to fall asleep on buses and airplanes. What can I say? It's a gift.
We had a productive practice at Greensboro's gym Friday night. Although veterans like Coach Ross have made these trips countless times, the USA South and its locations are still very new to me. Greensboro's gym, as Coach Krikorian put it, certainly has a lot of “character.” It reminded me a great deal of the gyms from the movie Hoosiers. I kept waiting for Jimmy Chitwood to come storming out of the locker room to join the Captains during practice.
After a good night's rest at the hotel, we set out Saturday afternoon to take on a very athletic Greensboro College squad. We expected a tough battle, and that is exactly what we received. As I have mentioned before, winning on the road in your conference is a difficult task and in this game we did not execute as well as we expect to. Greensboro likes to play at a very fast pace, and we definitely got caught “watching the paint dry” at least a few times in our transition defense.
Despite the lack of execution, we were able to do enough on both ends of the floor to lead for most of the game. The last few minutes saw the score tied several different times, but Jake Capin hit two huge 3's and we had several quality defensive possessions down the stretch to get the 77-71 win.
There was no time for rest as we traveled over to Fayetteville, NC to take on Methodist University on Sunday afternoon. Day 2 of back-to-back games on the road requires a ton of focus and determination, as everyone is a little physically and mentally fatigued from the previous day's game. We played a very sluggish first half by our standards, and trailed Methodist by nine at the half. This was a little abnormal for us. We have gotten off to slow starts at times this year, but usually we have picked it up before the first half was over. Fortunately, the guys played with a renewed energy in the second half. We executed much better on the offensive end and made some key stops defensively, eventually holding on for the 77-74 victory.
All in all, we did not play as well as we are capable of over the weekend. However, it is a testament to this team's resiliency and toughness that we were able to pull out two conference road wins while not being at our very best. The guys buckled down and made the “winning plays” in crunch time.
As always, we are looking to learn and build on these past few games. The first half of conference play is now over, and the Captains stand at 5-1, in a first place tie with Ferrum and N.C. Wesleyan. As a coach, one of your main goals every year is to keep progressing and improving so that the team is playing its best basketball at the end of the season. As we enter the final stretch of the regular season, every game takes on a great deal of importance. It will be a challenge to win the conference, but we are looking forward to it. I can assure you there will be some very exciting basketball played over the next few weeks at the Freeman Center. We hope to have you along for the ride!
