We woke up early flew from Greenville to Detroit at 9am on Monday morning. We had a short layover in Detroit and flew to Pittsburgh around 1:30. We practiced at Duquesne from 6:30 to about 8. Pittsburgh is a pretty cool place. I like seeing different parts of the country. Its always fun to imagine where I would be going to school had I grown up somewhere else.
We got up early and had a shootaround this morning around 8:30. After practice and the shootaround I had a good feeling about the game. The arena was a little old but besides a few dead spots on the floor, the court and rims felt pretty good.
We went over personnel again after our pregame meal and we felt like we matched up pretty well with them. The didn’t shoot the ball overly well in their first few games so we decided we wanted to focus on keeping the ball out of the paint and have them shoot from the outside rather than get easy buckets in the paint.
Duquesne started off the game on fire. They hit 3 threes en route to a 11-2 start and shot the 3 pretty well for the whole game. They also were really good at getting around the basket and dumping the ball off to a slasher. I came in off the bench and played one of my better halves of basketball in the first half. I hit a couple of threes, hit a pull up jumper, and was 2/2 on free throws. I also had a few assists and a couple rebounds. We went into halftime down by 9. I didn’t have a great second half. I turned the ball over twice in back to back posessions and on the second turnover I got a foul called on me as I chased down my turnover. We cut the lead to 6 at one point in the second half but I think that was the closest we got.
It was a disappointing game, but the good news is we don’t have time to let it get us down. We play at Dartmouth on Tuesday night. I’m gonna call it a night since our wake up call is coming at 4:15 AM. Yes you read that right - 4:15 AM. Dartmouth isn’t that easy to get to and I guess the selection of flights was limited. We don’t rent out an entire plane like the big boys.
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Good game, Connor. Thanks for letting those of us that couldn’t play college sports experience it with you. I have always wondered what all you guys do on the road and how you travel etc. Good luck at Dartmouth, your radio guy says there will be much snow.
tim
I did this on the Yardbarker post, but I figured I would include it here as well.
Oh, and Tim, it’s warming up (slightly), so the forecast calls for rain on Tuesday, but there could be some snow later in the week.
Tough break about the game. Your stat line was not bad (10 points, one board, three assists), but as you said, it was pretty much in the first half, and it doesn’t help if you don’t win, which is the most important thing.
The crucial aspect for your season is to use the nonconference slate to get better and prepare yourself for conference play. The more chemistry and cohesiveness you have, the better off you will be when it really matters. But, of course, I don’t need to tell you this, now do I?
Good luck Tuesday in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. I hope you enjoy your time up there. Hanover is actually a charming, wonderful, small northern New England town (population 10-11,000). When I was a wee lad, my best friend went to summer camp on Lake Sunapee (about 25-30 miles south of there), so that was cool for him. Although, I must admit, in all honesty, the extent of my experience there consists of brief stops while taking day/weekend trips up to Montréal.
So you’re flying commercial? Are you going into Boston, Manchester, or Bradley (Windsor Locks, Conn. between Hartford and Springfield)? In all honesty, Logan is a madhouse, and provided you can get out of there quickly (which never happens), then survive the traffic and the tolls going through Boston, it’s still a two-plus-hour bus ride up. From Bradley, it’s a bit further away in terms of distance, but I-91 is probably a bit quicker. Manchester is clearly the best bet, if the AD were able to get that, since it’s only a short trip up I-93 and I-89 from there. Then again, that might be the reason for the 4:15 wake-up call.
Well, if you’re coming through Boston, perhaps I could meet you at Logan. Provided, of course, that I’m actually awake that early in the morning.
Also, if your coach and/or the SID doesn’t have a problem with it, I could give you additional contact information. Just a quick heads-up, though: it’s been quite chilly this weekend. However, it’s supposed to warm up a bit; the forecast up there for Tuesday is 43 and rain. It could snow on Wednesday, so if you want to see snow (although it will probably be heavy and wet), then stick around! 
Again, best of luck on Tuesday.
Thanks Tim. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on the behind the scenes aspects. There was some snow on Monday night but NH didn’t feel as cold as Pittsburgh.