Nov. 23, 2009

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Mason sophomore Jimmy Nolan kept a blog of the team's trip to Puerto Rico for GoMason.com. Here is his final entry, covering games against Georgia Tech and Indiana, as well as Mason's off day and the trip home.

Saturday afternoon, November 21

We were all pretty upset about losing to Georgia Tech (on Friday, 70-62). It just seemed like we were still thinking about the loss to Villanova the day before. We made a run at the end, but it came too late and we couldn't pull it out. It's not fun losing, especially when you feel like you could have won both games. We were so close from having back-to-back upsets, but instead we had back-to-back losses. But now all we can do is move forward and get ready for the next team we play. It turns out that we will be playing Indiana on Sunday. We had a practice this morning at around 11:30, which lasted for about an hour and a half. We went over some Indiana stuff in order to get familiar with their offense and defense. Now we have the rest of the day off so we are all pretty happy.

Sunday morning, November 22

A bunch of us decided to go to the beach with the time we had off on Saturday, which ended up to be a great decision. We met up with the band members by the beach at their hotel because they had a nicer beach area. The sun was out and the ocean was looking great. We all starting body surfing and having a lot of fun. The waves were very powerful and made a couple of us do flips under water from how strong they were. We even had the bright idea of taking a charge on a wave... something I am not planning on doing again. Overall it was a fun time and it gave us a chance to just relax and enjoy Puerto Rico. After the beach we all went out to eat at a nice restaurant located in Old San Juan. It was a nice looking town and the food was good. That night consisted of our team meeting and that was followed by playing a lot of "Call of Duty."

Monday, November 23

Sunday morning we had to wake up pretty early because we were playing Indiana at 11:30 local time. We were all pumped up and really wanted to come out with a win. We did not want to be the only team that came to Puerto Rico and didn't get a victory. The game was close throughout and I was hoping we would eventually get a big lead and just coast the rest of the way. But that didn't happen. It ended being tied with about 40 seconds left. During our possession the shot clock was winding down and I was getting nervous. Cam got the ball with a couple seconds left on the shot clock and threw up a 3-pointer. He ended up banking the shot in. I don't know how he made it but I am definitely glad he did. We won the game and we were all happy. It was a huge weight off of our shoulders to get that win. After the game we all went out to eat at a place by the hotel. I'm not going to lie the service at this restaurant was reeaallllly bad. I have never waited so long to eat. Some people were done with their food before others even got theirs. The one that had it the worst was Luke Hancock. He hadn't even gotten a drink and a lot of people were eating their main course. The food was good, but not worth the ridiculous wait. The rest of the night was just hanging out with my teammates and enjoying our last night in Puerto Rico.

Our flight was at 12:25 local time so we got to the airport around 9:45. The plane was full of George Mason students because the band was on the same flight as us. I am actually writing this while on the plane looking at the mountains and trees and seeing the sunshine as we take off. Puerto Rico is a really nice place and I'm not going lie, I am going to miss it.