Kyle Hines writes about UNC Greensboro's recent four-game losing streak.

Welcome back everyone. It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve last written a blog entry. A lot has happened since that last entry, which ended during the long road trip to Statesboro, Ga. to play Georgia Southern.

Our game at Georgia Southern was a tough one. We had many opportunities to take control of the game and possibly come out of there with a win. In the last four minutes of the game, we found ourselves struggling to make a shot. We missed four out of the last five shots and missed six out of seven free throws. It also seemed like we couldn’t get the big defensive stop when we needed it to win the game. With all those factors combined, we still had an opportunity to win the game in the last two possessions but couldn’t convert. We ended up losing by two, 80-78.

Our next game we returned back home to face Wofford. We started off the game with a 19-4 lead. Then we slowly let Wofford back in it. They went on a 21- 8 run to close out the half and get within two. Much like the Georgia Southern game, we struggled down the stretch and couldn’t knock down free throws, shooting 7-18 from the free throw line. I had the opportunity to win the game in the final seconds. I made a drive to the basket and got fouled and was just one spin in the opposite direction of the ball from a three-point play. Instead, it rolled out and I got to the free throw line for two shots. I missed one out of two - that could have potentially sent us to overtime. We ended up losing the game by three, 59-56.

Our next game we traveled to Greenville, South Carolina to play Furman. In this game, we absolutely struggled. I guess we were still suffering a hangover from the previous two losses. We only shot 31 percent from the field and allowed Furman to pick apart our defense. We lost 69-59. Afterwards, our team was in a state of disbelief. We had just lost three games in a row and we were about to enter one of the most difficult portions of our schedule, facing Davidson and Appalachian State. We knew that we had to get back to playing the way we were playing previously or this season could take a drastic turn for the worse.

We came back home to host Davidson. This game could be described as the tale of two halves. The first half, we played really well holding Davidson to only 37 points in the first half and going into halftime with a 15-point lead. We led by as many as 20. But the next half was a totally different story as they outscored us by 20 points to win the game by five, 83-78. Our losing streak was now a season-long 4 games in a row.

Saturday, we hosted our division rivals Appalachian State. If you can remember when we played them last in Boone, N.C., they completely embarrassed us. They basically ran us out of the gym. Because of the rivalry, every time we play Appalachian State, the game carries a larger amount of significance. This time, though, it carried even more significance because it was Hall of Fame weekend. Among five people being inducted were our athletics director Nelson Bobb and associate athletics director Cathy Roberts. There were also a number of former Spartan players that were in attendance because former coach Larry Hargett was being inducted as well. Despite our four-game losing steak, we still had an opportunity to get back in the race for the Northern Division title.
We ended up playing really well and beating App State 79-55. We defended really well and caused them to struggle to get open shots. It felt good to get a win after going without one for almost two weeks. After the game was over we all handed the game ball to Nelson Bobb to celebrate his Hall of Fame induction. He was very excited and proud to receive the ball. He even hung out with us for the alma mater at center court.

On Tuesday, we travel south down towards Charlotte to face Davidson for the second time in seven days. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. (Everyone in Sicklerville will be watching.) Davidson is a great team, but if we play our game for a complete 40 minutes this time, I think we can definitely be successful against them.

Well this is all I have for this week. Wish us luck for the upcoming week.

Until next time……………………………

Kyle Hines #42