By Patrick McHugh, News Staff
NORFOLK, Va. – A stack of empty pizza boxes, piled atop one another like a deck of cards, sat isolated on a window seat on the charter bus. Fourteen pairs of weary legs spread out across cramped seats, each in search of space to stretch out. The five-and-a-half-hour ride south for the men’s basketball team had just begun.
A scene like this is common for road teams in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
Three hundred thirty-one miles separate Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Center in downtown Philadelphia from Old Dominion University’s Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va. The Huskies hoopsters made this journey from Drexel to ODU to play two games in 48 hours, a scheduling quirk which has become common in the conference since the advent of the BracketBusters series in 2003. In order to create room on the docket for the annual February non-conference match-ups, the CAA forces teams to play a stretch of three games in five days on a Saturday-Monday-Wednesday slate.
Though the short rest and demanding travel can leave teams exhausted, Northeastern head coach Bill Coen said fatigue isn’t a big factor in the team’s performance.
“At this time of the year it’s where your mind is at,” he said. “The physical preparation has been done, guys are in pretty good shape, and it’s about the rhythm of playing games. So much of this game is mental and how you’re feeling about yourself, your confidence level. These are two of the better teams in the league to play on the road, so it will be a test for us.”
This season Northeastern drew the unenviable task of facing the Dragons in Philadelphia on Saturday and then meeting the Monarchs in Norfolk two nights later. Though NU entered the two-game swing with a 5-2 league record and, having won six of its previous seven games, the Huskies dropped both contests on the road, losing 71-53 at Drexel and falling 69-57 against Old Dominion.
Saturday’s setback at Drexel was arguably the squad’s most difficult game of the season. The Dragons are favorites to win the CAA Tournament in March, and they displayed their dominance by grabbing a 25-7 lead to begin the game.
“We came out and we didn’t answer the opening bell and they jumped on us,” Coen said after the game. “We really came out flat. Give credit to Drexel, they established their inside game immediately and then played inside out.”
One of the challenges for CAA teams is finding ways to win on the road, which Coen said can demand more lively play.
“At home sometimes you can count on the N Zone and those guys to get you back in the game,” he said. “Sometimes on the road you expend a lot of energy.”
Dragons head coach Bruiser Flint concurred, pointing out that a home crowd’s enthusiasm can spur a team to victory.
“When you have a good home court, that helps everybody,” Flint said. “I think you see that across the country. I think you see teams going on the road and when the other team has good atmosphere on their home court, those road teams are getting beat … It’s hard to win on the road. It’s going to be like that no matter what conference it is or what teams are playing.”
Monday night the Huskies looked to bounce back at Old Dominion. The Huskies seemed to play with a greater sense of urgency, grabbing 34 rebounds compared to only 23 at Drexel. A much better start allowed Northeastern to remain competitive throughout before ODU went on an 11-1 scoring run in the final minutes to clinch the win.
Like the Huskies, the Monarchs were coming off a loss on the road Saturday, theirs a 61-48 decision at Virginia Commonwealth University. Not wanting to drop two consecutive, both clubs played with desperation.
“It was one I think both teams felt like they needed to get coming off recent losses,” Coen said after the defeat. “You could see the intensity right from the start.”
In his postgame remarks, ODU head coach Blaine Taylor acknowledged the difficulty of Northeastern’s road trip and the rigors of a typical CAA schedule.
“They had won four straight before they ran into us and Drexel and they were sitting right there in the standings,” Taylor said. “Everybody is going to hit a stretch where they start to play some of the stronger teams, and they did both on the road. That’s not easy on any team.”
Two tough losses in 48 hours could be enough to drain a team’s spirits, especially for a Northeastern team that was tied for third in the league standings before the weekend began. But as Coen pointed out, there’s no time to feel sorry for yourself in the CAA.
“We’ll look at the tape of this one, but we can’t dwell on it for very long,” he said.
