This Thursday night, Kyle Hines will have his number retired at UNC Greensboro. He will become the fifth men’s or women’s basketball player to have their number retired at UNCG and the first to do so while still active. However, we had to twist Kyle’s arm just to talk about the historical milestones he reached this week. So, maybe he’ll write about that in next week’s edition.

Welcome back everyone. I have to start by admitting that these blogs are becoming harder and harder to write with every entry. Each time I write, it gives me a realization that the end of my collegiate career is coming closer and closer. We only have three regular-season games and the conference tournament left. It feels like the grains of sand at the top of the hourglass are growing fewer and fewer. I definitely have a sense of urgency, now that every game I play could really in fact be my last.

When I left you guys last, we were preparing to face Davidson on ESPN2. Well, as most of you saw, it wasn’t the picture-perfect game that we envisioned. We ended up losing by nine, 75-66, because of turnovers and sloppy play. Looking back at the game I think that I personally started the game too aggressive. I should have let the game come to me a little bit more. I guess if you could take a positive out of the game it would be that I think we played one of our poorest games of the year and still had a number of opportunities to get back within a possession of the lead.

During that game I also joined a very elite statistical club -- 2000 points, 1000 rebounds, and 300 blocks in a career. There are only five people in NCAA history - Tim Duncan, Pervis Ellison, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman – that have achieved those marks in a career. I became the sixth member of the club during the Davidson game. It is definitely a great accomplishment to know that you have done something that only five other people in history have done. Also, there are less than a hundred that have ever had just the 2000 points and 1000 rebounds. The only thing I wish was different was that it was done in a win rather than a loss.

Two days after the Davidson game we traveled to Cullowhee, N.C. to play Western Carolina. We knew that this game was going to be a test for us because the atmosphere was going to be vastly different from the Davidson game. There wasn’t going to be a sold-out crowd or television cameras. We would need to bring our own energy and find a way to win the game.

We ended up winning the game by 12 and had four people in double figures. “KO” (Kevin Oleksiak) led the way with 18 pts. I scored 13 points and didn’t score my last six points until the final two minutes of the game. My teammates all thought that “the streak” was going to come to an end. (You aren’t supposed to talk about those things, right? Isn’t that how it works, never talk about a streak? So, I haven’t talked about it in the blog before.) I’m not going to lie, there was a point when it entered my mind and I thought it was over, too. Either way, we won and that is all that matters.

Dwayne Johnson also reached two career milestones by getting his 400th career assist and his 300th career rebound. The 300 rebounds is the one that I’m most impressed with because Dwayne is only 5-9 -- at best.

So, if you looked at the box score on Friday morning, you might have noticed that Dwayne and I didn’t start. Well, there’s a little story to that. Thursday morning, before the game, Dwayne and I were late to the team bus because we accidentally locked the keys in our apartment. I walked out the door and remembered that I forgot my keys. I turned to go get them but Dwayne had already locked the door. Whooops!.

We stood there for a while in the cold until someone could come and pick us up. It was a pretty stupid mistake but we definitely learned from it. We now have a spare key, so this situation won’t happen again.

So, I have to give a little attention to the other people in my life that are setting records, especially since I don’t like to talk about my own.

My little brother, Tyler, scored his 1,000th career point at Timber Creek HS during a game Thursday night. He became just the third boys’ basketball player in Timber Creek’s short history to reach that milestone. The other two are Tyler’s big brother (see, I really don’t like to talk about my own accomplishments!) and my high school teammate Kasmon Bownman.

(It’s down at the bottom of the story!)

My girlfriend, Gianna Smith, also plays basketball at Division II Adelphi University up on Long Island. She is approaching a career milestone herself. She is just 21 points away from becoming her school’s all-time leading scorer. I think she has two games left in her regular season. Hopefully, she will set the record in her next game on Wednesday night.

This upcoming week is really big for our team. We have a three-game homestand to close out the regular season starting with College of Charleston on Monday. If we win Monday, we will secure one of the five conference tournament byes. This is very important because no one in our conference’s long and storied history has won the tournament title without having a bye. Also with a win, it will still keep us in the hunt for a possible run at the North Division title.

Well that’s all I have for you this week. Wish us luck this week (and Gianna, too!).

Until next time…………Kyle Hines #42.

P.S. - I want to give a special shout out to Kevin’s mom. Thank you for the brownies. They were great!!!!!!!!! 