Notes from a Titan road trip

Antoine Davis, a VN staff writer, plays for the men’s Titans basketball team. In this brief journal, he offers readers a glimpse of the hectic nature of a recent road trip.

BY ANTOINE J. DAVIS / VN STAFF WRITER

Our Detroit Mercy men’s basketball team redefined the phrase “road trip” in the month of November.

The team began its non-conference season Nov. 10 in Wyoming.

The next stop was Toledo, Ohio.

The week of Nov. 15 began a six-day stretch on the road to play Mississippi State on Nov. 17 and Louisville on Nov. 20, for which the team boarded a 6 a.m. flight for Alabama from Detroit on the Nov. 16.

After landing at the Birmingham airport, the Titans took a bus to complete their two-hour journey to Starkville, Miss.

In Starkville, players and coaches checked into their hotel, received room assignments and headed to their rooms to relax before practice.

After an hour-long practice, the team had dinner at the hotel and then it was lights out.

Game day began with breakfast at 9 a.m. and preparation for shoot-around.

On game days, there is not a full-on practice.

Instead, there is a reiteration of the game plan and a mild workout of shooting drills for an hour.

The team returned to the hotel to relax, play video games or catch up on schoolwork until the pregame meal.

Pregame meals usually consist of pasta, some protein and a variety of vegetables.

The Titans boarded the bus and headed out one to two hours before the 7 p.m. tipoff against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Despite a hard-fought game, the Bulldogs came out on top, 77-64.

Dinner was set up at the arena for the team, and then it was back on the bus to Birmingham to check into a different hotel closer to the airport.

Breakfast was early on Thursday, and the team was off to the Birmingham airport for a flight to Louisville, Kent.

Once we arrived in Louisville, we headed to the hotel for check-in and room assignments and then dinner at a local restaurant.

The next day the players and coaches had some downtime apart from practice, film and study table.

Game day began with a 10 a.m. breakfast/pregame meal.

Checkout was at noon for departure to the Yum Yum Center for a 2 p.m. tipoff against the Cardinals.

The Titans fell short and lost to Louisville by six.

Dinner was again at the arena after the game before a five-hour bus trip back to Detroit.

We will play on the road until Dec. 11, when we tipoff at 1 p.m. at Calihan Hall against Western Michigan