Some teams hate playing on the road. Well, those teams aren’t the Texas State Bobcats. For some reason, Doug Davalos’ team prefers to stay as far away from Strahan Coliseum as possible.
After last Saturday’s 79-64 loss to Denver, Texas State is 3-9 at home. The Bobcats dropped nine out of their last 10 home games and failed to win six consecutive times.
It’s probably a good thing three of Texas State’s next four games are on the road, including an important two-game road trip which begins tonight at UT-Arlington and continues Saturday at Louisiana Tech. Before the recent slide, the Bobcats won three in a row on the road.
“It should be the other way around, like last year, but I don’t know what the deal is,” Texas State sophomore guard Wesley Davis said in reference to the team’s 16-game winning streak at home last season. “We just come together as a team on the road. We don’t have our fans cheering for us, so it’s just and that’s what makes us play together better.”
Davis and his teammates should also have revenge on their mind, especially after what happened last time they took on the Mavericks and Bulldogs. The Bobcats lost both games by an average margin of 17 points, only led once and put up a laughable effort on the defensive end and in the paint.
“Everybody should have a chip on their shoulder,” Texas State junior forward Corey Stern said. “These are definitely games we need to get.”
Head coach Doug Davalos agreed with Stern.
“That’s why it should be difficult to sweep teams — the pride factor comes in,” Davalos said. “If you don’t have that pride factor, it doesn’t make a difference. I told the guys this is a game I really want to win.”
A victory might also propel the Bobcats ahead of slumping San Jose State in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Texas State hasn’t been able to take advantage of the Spartans, who lost their last seven games and are tied with Davalos’ team in sixth place at 3-8.
“These guys know that we can win these games,” Davalos said. “They just need to go out there and execute.”