Coming off a loss to Kentucky, Marist once again took on a big-time college basketball program in the form of the University of South Florida in tonight's game at the St. Peter's Time Forum. Although this was a big game for us, the life of a manager isn't always high pressure situations; this was an exciting time for everyone in the program, as we had a mini three day vacation in Florida between games. Although we were away from classes for a couple of days, we certainly weren't away from the court. On Sunday, we had two practices in preparations for today's game and had a walk through / shoot-around practice earlier this morning.
This was also an exciting time for sophomore guard Jay Bowie, as he was returning to his stomping grounds. Since Bowie went to Tampa Prep, a school less than five minutes down the road from the hotel and arena, during his high school years, he was able to showcase his collegiate talents to his local family, friends, and high school coaches. Bowie finished the night with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Dorvell Carter once again led the Red Foxes, scoring 12 points and grabbed 1 rebound. Tonight was the first time in a while that all the starters scored in double figures. Adam Kemp helped out tremendously on the boards grabbing 7 rebounds. Unfortunately, Marist lost to South Florida 81-67, so the game served as a teaching point. While Victor Rudd Jr. led the South Florida Bulls to their second win of the season with a 30 point performance, Marist was only down 3 at the half to a Big East team that will finish in the top 10 of the conference this year. This itself is pretty remarkable, showing fans from across the country that Marist can compete with the bigger schools.
Tomorrow morning, we will finally be heading back to Poughkeepsie. This has been one of the longest road trips in my managerial career, spanning 5 days and 4 nights, but there is no reason to complain after spending the last 3 days in the Southern Florida sunshine. The last couple of days the temperature has been in the 80's.
We will have 3 days to prepare for our next opponent, Vermont, from the America East Conference. This upcoming weekend we will square off on Saturday at 6pm and then play either Radford or LIU (depending on the outcome of Saturday's games at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT).
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