Lions plan to keep it simple in short week

FLORENCE - North Alabama's team bus rolled into Florence on Sunday around 4:30 a.m., after Saturday's 45-21 victory over Arkansas Tech.

A similar bus will leave campus at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon en route to Greenville, S.C., for Thursday's game against North Greenville.

That doesn't leave much time for coach Mark Hudspeth and his staff to develop and install a plan for the non-conference matchup.

But that's the situation the Lions face this week as they played the second game in a stretch of three road games in 12 days.

"It's a lot of travel in a short period of time," Hudspeth said. "Playing on Thursday after a Saturday game is always challenging, but having two long road trips really adds to it. I have liked the Thursday games more than I thought I would because it gives you more of a break for the next game. But this stretch of games we're in now is brutal."

Practice time this week as at a premium. Because the team got in so late, Hudspeth decided to cancel Sunday's scheduled workout, and the team only watched the game film and lifted weights.

Having two long trips in five days makes for a challenging schedule for the players.

"It's pretty tough, especially trying to get caught up on your school work," junior guard Eric Richardson said. "There's also less time to watch film, although they make us DVDs we can take home with us to watch. But you do worry about having less on-the-field preparation. You can't just have mental reps - you have to get out there on the field and work the game plan."

Complicating matters for the coaching staff this week is preparing for a team they know very little about. This will be the first meeting against North Greenville, a team that hasn't played any other Gulf South Conference teams this season.

"It's not like it is another GSC team or even a regional team that we are familiar with," Hudspeth said. "We don't have any common opponents to go by, so there is a little uncertainty in preparation that makes it more tricky.

"You just hope that you have time to cover everything. We watched all of their games, but we don't get as many looks this week as normal. We pretty much have two days of practice this week, so there is some uncertainty. We'll probably keep our plan pretty simple this week and not try to do too much."

Jeff McIntyre can be reached at 740-5737 or jeff.mcintyre@timesdaily.com.