Senior team manager Tim McElvoy stopped by to answer a few questions on spending Thanksgiving on the road and the difficulties of playing back to back games.

So what’s it like on the long distance road games?

It’s pretty family orientated actually. Coach McCaffery usually brings his whole family with him on the long trips so there’s kids running around. This trip Clarence Jackson had his family with him, too. As far has practice goes, it’s pretty light with the players just getting used to the new arena.
Was this trip any different with it being Thanksgiving?

A little bit. The coaches made sure the players were keeping their focus. There were more family members watching practice. One thing for sure is that the food was much better. The hotel had a buffet style version of a Thanksgiving meal so we were able to eat a little bit like we were back home.

How tough is it in these tournaments when you have to play games on consecutive days?

It is tough. It’s like having back to back tests. You have to prepare as usual for the first game, and then cram big time for the second. You can’t look beyond St. John’s and onto Brown. Thanksgiving night everyone was working hard. Coaches were studying film all night, and the players were in personnel meetings too. The tight schedule definitely messes with the routine, but everybody puts in the extra work to come up with the best game plan possible.