Pirates In Paradise - Day Two
November 20, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Today started a little earlier than yesterday but the view from my balcony was the same, maybe better. The weather was once again warm and sunny, and the water was clearer today than yesterday after the storm. We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed out for our morning shoot-around at a local high school up the mountain. We were only there about an hour, going over our plays, getting shots up, and preparing for what we might see from Tennessee. A handful of the students came down to the gym to watch. I would imagine daydreaming during class is a little more of a problem in a place like this, at least it would be for me.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we had a little over an hour before pre-game meal at 12:30 to relax in the rooms. We ate lunch as a team in one of the private banquet rooms here at the hotel. Another hour and a half later we were headed back across the island to the university to take on Tennessee. The first game of the tournament (DePaul v. Northern Iowa) was in progress when we arrived and the gym was already pretty full when we got there. I gave the pregame interview, but there was a little difficulty getting on the air without our radio engineer Greg Pierce, who was unable to make the trip.
As expected, Tennessee was a competitive, tough team to play against. We handled their press well early, taking a six-point lead, and played them pretty tight through the beginning of the second half. Eventually, we dug ourselves a hole too deep to get out of. We continued to play hard but couldn't make up the difference.
We headed back to the hotel, but not for long. We had dinner reservations at a restaurant called the Greenhouse, located right next to the harbor in the heart of downtown. The whole team ate together, enjoying the view and the breeze off the water before heading back to the hotel for film study and a scouting report on tomorrow's opponent, Northern Iowa.
We'll once again do our best to be prepared as possible to play well tomorrow, and I'll do my best to keep you posted on all things Pirates here at the Paradise Jam.
Thank you again for checking in on us, and Go Pirates!
