Hello out there! I hope everyone has been keeping warm as we head into the heart of winter. The occasional 65-degree day we seem to be having every now and then certainly helps. This is one of the key areas where the South is an upgrade over my homeland of New York City – I am not much of a fan of the cold and the snow. Picture coming home past midnight after a road game that ended in a loss, and then having to spend twenty minutes clearing snow off your car so you can actually get back to your apartment. Thinking about blown layups and missed charge-takes as you wield an ice scrapper and tiptoe around the snow and slush in your suit is not a pleasant experience, but I digress.
 
We here at CNU men's basketball are heading into the heart of our season and USA South Conference play.  At this point of the season you essentially are who you are as a team. Practices are spent mainly on fine-tuning the various aspects of your offense and defense, while also making specific preparations for each upcoming opponent. It is also an important time to battle through elements of fatigue and wear and tear as the season enters its fifth month. This is especially true for the freshmen, who are not used to playing such a rigorous schedule.
 
With all that said, we have continued to keep ourselves fresh and playing pretty good basketball. The boys continued to take care of business with a 77-58 decision over visiting Shenandoah on Wednesday. We once again turned in a solid defensive performance – especially considering that Shenandoah runs the “Princeton” offense. This offensive system, made famous by former Princeton coach and all-time great Pete Carril, involves a myriad of cuts, deceptive movements, and backdoor passes, and it is notoriously tricky to defend. We certainly had our breakdowns, but overall the guys did a good job of sticking to the game plan and executing.
 
The win over Shenandoah sets up our next pivotal challenge on Saturday as we travel to Greensboro College. Like us, Greensboro is also currently undefeated in USA South play, so the winner of this game will obviously have the inside track in the standings and the regular season conference title.
 
The Pride have been playing very well of late, and their defensive intensity and overall athleticism will certainly put us to the test. Greensboro's gymnasium is also a tough place to play. If you've ever seen the movie “Hoosiers” you'll have a good idea of what we'll be walking into this weekend. Ultimately though, the crowd, the location, all that stuff is irrelevant – we must take care of what we need to do and execute in the areas that we have control over. As is usually the case with tough road contests, our ability to defend, rebound, and (in this game especially) take care of the ball will go a long way in deciding the outcome. 
 
We are about to enter what is arguably our toughest stretch of games of the season: four games in eight days, including two conference road games and two non-conference games against strong opponents. This stretch will tell us a lot about where we are really at and exactly how far we have come over the past few months.
 
I hope you are able to come along for the ride. Watch Saturday's game live on cnusports.com and follow us on our Facebook page for all the latest news and updates. See you back in the Freeman Center next week!