MOREHEAD, Ky. — The Morehead State men’s basketball team will open its three-game Bahamas trip on Saturday against the Grand Bahamas All-Stars at 7 p.m. ET. The Eagles will also face the Real Deal Shockers on Sunday at 3 p.m. and Pyramid Food Rockets on Monday at 9 p.m.
All games will be played at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium in Nassau. Opposing teams will include former NCAA Division I and II players. Morehead State is slated to leave on Friday morning and return the evening of Aug. 13. MSUEagles.com will have coverage of the trip.
The Eagles have been practicing since July 28 and will continue to hit the floor through Thursday. Per NCAA rules, Division I programs are allowed 10 days of workouts prior to leaving for foreign trips. MSU has not been abroad since the summer of 2007 when it visited Canada.
“This trip will help build our team chemistry,” Head Coach Sean Woods said. “It will also acclimate our new players to game-like situations and allow us to try different combinations on the floor. I’m encouraged because we are doing some things now that we normally don’t do until November.”
Alabama State, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, North Carolina, Northern Arizona, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Portland State and Samford will join MSU in the Bahamas for exhibition games, but NCAA rules do not allow U.S. teams to play each other at this time.
“The Bahamas should be a fun, but competitive environment,” junior guard Brent Arrington said. “I think we will definitely get some good experience from this trip, on and off the floor. These three games will let us work out the kinks, and we’ll come away with better team chemistry.”
The Bahamas is a chain of islands, southeast of Florida and northeast of Cuba, in the Caribbean. Average temperatures during the month of August are 83 degrees, with highs typically climbing into the low 90s. Precipitation in the Bahamas occurs more than 50 percent of the time.
“My teammates and I are really looking forward to this trip,” sophomore guard Corban Collins added. “It’s going to be a great experience for everyone associated with our program. The Bahamas will let us finish off the summer doing what we love to do — and that’s play basketball.”
English is the official language of the Bahamas, while sloop sailing is its national sport. Currency is the Bahamian dollar, although United States dollars are widely accepted. The islands are on Eastern Time (ET) and have a population of approximately 320,000.
Morehead State is coming off a 20-win campaign for the fourth time in the past six years. The 2013-14 Eagles also earned a spot in the College Basketball Invitational, which marked their fourth postseason berth in six seasons and ninth in school history.
The trip is being coordinated by Sport Tours International. For more information, visit SportTours.net.
[adsenseyu1]
Comments
