By Bryan Bloodworth
NORMAL – Outside of basketball, what is senior forward DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell looking forward to when the Illinois State men’s basketball team takes a 10-day trip to history-rich Spain to play four exhibition games?
“The women,” said Purcell, who leaves with his teammates Aug. 7 to play two games in Madrid and Barcelona before returning Aug. 16. The Redbirds also have many sight-seeing tours and a community service project on their agenda.
ISU coach Dan Muller hopes the trip will serve several purposes.
“Well, there’s the obvious benefit of being on the court in practices, playing games, getting players to understand substitutions and how hard you play and playing together,” said Muller. “But the biggest thing is the chemistry that our team will develop; the new experience; just the cultural experience for every player; just bonding together through a new experience.”
“Any time you can play against a team that you don’t know what they are doing is a benefit. Any time you have substitutions, fouls and shooting percentages, it’s an opportunity to get a feel with your teammates of what to expect from each guy. The competition -I hope it’s good – but regardless you get great value out of playing games in August.”
ISU junior guard Paris Lee said it should be a fun trip and some good competition.
“It’s just a good experience to get us out of the country and do the thing we love to do – play ball,” added Lee. “But I just want our team to jell more. I feel this trip should give us a chance to know each other better and get on the same page with each other.”
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected].
