The following is the first Online Nexus Sports Blog, from Christian Peterson, senior forward on the UCSB men’s basketball team.

This past weekend was our longest road trip of the year and, for me and many other teammates growing up in SoCal, it’s probably the least favorite for us. On the other hand, for many teammates who have grown up in NorCal, it’s their favorite road trip, as they get to see a lot of family members and friends who come out to support the team on the road. The bus ride up to Davis wasn’t too bad. It took us around five hours or so, but we went straight to practice off the bus without going to the hotel or anything first, which always sucks because we didn’t get time to just chill out for a little at the hotel. Our first game was against Davis, who has been struggling for much of the year. Our focus coming into the game was to work on execution and putting a team away once we have the lead. As far as the game goes, we played pretty well, moved the ball around the best we have all season long and ended up winning by around 30. The next day we drove to Pacific and had a light practice, just going over our game plan and getting loosened up a little. The game was at 5 o’clock because it was on TV up in that area and it was nice having a game at 5 o’clock so we weren’t just sitting around the hotel all day waiting for game time. The game against Pacific was a bit tougher than the game against Davis and it got close at the end when we didn’t execute as well as we should have, but we got the win and that’s what’s most important. For those who are from NorCal it was nice because we then had the night to spend with family and friends until our curfew that night. My least favorite part of this particular road trip has always been the drive home because we get up on Sunday and spend the majority of the day sitting in a stuffy bus driving along with absolutely nothing to look at with the smell of hundreds of cows. It ended up taking us around six hours to get home on Sunday and by the time we got home our day was pretty much shot and almost everyone had homework that needed to be done before class on Monday. Practice on Monday was good: short and to the point, which is always nice after a five-day road trip. Coming up we have Northridge and Fullerton, both teams we have already played and beaten, but now we play them on the road, which is always harder than home games.

Stay tuned for more from Christian and the UCSB men’s basketball team continues its conference play.

Print