After William and Mary opened its season with a win at home, men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver knew things would get tougher with three consecutive road games.
“We have an incredibly ambitious schedule,” said Shaver, who just started his 16th season with the Tribe. “It’s the toughest I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
The Tribe (1-2) have lost the first two games of that trip, part of four games they are playing in the Gotham Classic. Despite a career-high 30 points from Matt Milon on Thursday, the Tribe lost to the University of Illinois at Chicago 100-95 in overtime. Two days earlier, the Tribe lost 84-70 at Duquesne.
In addition to Milon, fellow junior Justin Pierce had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman L.J. Owens added 12 points. The Tribe led 45-38 at halftime, but couldn’t hang on.
Still, Shaver liked what he saw overall.
“We really improved tonight. We made a big step from our last ballgame,” he said. “We’ve said all along, this staff, we’ve got to do a good job of trying to build confidence in this team through a very difficult nonconference schedule. … We really took a step as a club tonight. I think we learned a little bit. We played better and we grew up a little bit.”
Now, it’s on to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame on Saturday. Tipoff is set for noon. The Irish (2-1) lost 63-60 at home to Radford on Wednesday, but beat UIC 84-67 in its season opener. The only other time W&M played Notre Dame was in December 1982, with the Irish coming away with an 83-60 win at home.
After Saturday’s game against the Irish, the Tribe return home to face Radford on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in the final game of the Gotham Classic.
