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Saturday, January 20, 2001
Islanders men hit the road again
A&M-CC squad kicks off six-game trip with visit to 7-10 Belmont
By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times
The prospects of a six-game road trip ought to trigger a case of déjà vu for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team.
After all, it was only last month when the Islanders embarked on a six-game stretch away from home that resulted in five straight losses and only one win before the team returned to town.
The current situation is eerily similar for A&M-Corpus Christi (9-9), which is coming off three straight wins and faces Belmont today in the first of six consecutive road games.
This time around, though, the Islanders left town with a new approach to life on the road.
"Hopefully, we're more mature now," said head coach Ronnie Arrow, whose team meets Belmont at 7 p.m. tonight in the second half of a women's-men's doubleheader in Nashville. "We've got a great game under our belts (Monday's 107-78 home win over Albany). "It just comes down to maturity."
The last time it faced such a long stretch away from Memorial Coliseum, A&M-Corpus Christi sank to its lowest depths of what has become an up-and-down season.
It began with a bizarre 79-74 loss at Southwest Texas State that was delayed an hour because game officials had not been assigned. Things spiraled even more downward from there, with the Islanders getting blown out twice at the Pizza Hut Classic in Springfield, Mo., then losing by 22 at Valparaiso.
The momentum started to turn A&M-Corpus Christi's way during its surprising near-upset of Texas, then transformed for good in an 86-80 win at Texas Tech. Since then, the Islanders have won six of their last nine to get back to the .500-mark entering the final 10 games of the season.
It was the victory at Texas Tech, along with a 113-108 overtime triumph Jan. 8 at Cal Poly, that convinced A&M-Corpus Christi it could be successful on the road.
"The players understand now how to play on the road and win on the road," said senior Michael Hicks, who is back atop the national scoring leaderboard with an average of 26.6 points per game. "We're more mature. We know what to expect. I think we can handle it now because everyone's started to play together."
With the toughest portion of its schedule behind it - only one remaining opponent has an RPI rating better than 214 - A&M-Corpus Christi (RPI of 241) has an opportunity to beat some lesser opposition.
And when the Islanders and Belmont (7-10) tip-off this afternoon at Striplin Gym, the Bruin team on the opposing bench will look familiar. The two squads played twice last year, with each winning at home.
The familiarity with Belmont's system, which relies on quick passes and numerous 3-point attempts, should give A&M-Corpus Christi at least a small advantage, Arrow said.
"A little bit," Arrow said. "I finally got to look at some old tapes of teams we've played before. It's nice to be playing some schools that are like us, that are independents. Considering who we've already played this year, we should be ready for teams like that."
Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com
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a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.
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