It's Another Long Road Back to Assembly Hall for North Alabama
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Despite an eventual 26-point beatdown to Indiana, Tony Pujol and his North Alabama Lions totally enjoyed everything about their visit to Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall last November.
"It was an unbelievable experience for our kids to go up there and play in that environment against a team like Indiana,'' said Pujol, who's in his third year as the head coach of the Atlantic Sun Conference school based in Florence, Ala. "I mean, it's Indiana and all that history, and the buzz in that building was something else. It was a great learning experience for our kids and what we're trying to build here.''
Indiana won that game 91-65 on Nov. 12, with then-freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis having his first career 20-point game. North Alabama actually led 18-17 halfway through the first half. For a team still transitioning into Division I basketball after winning national championship at the D-2 level, it was a special night. They finished the season with a 13-17 record, and were 8-8 in the ASUN.
And now they're back for another game on Sunday, which wasn't supposed to happen. These two teams weren't supposed to play this year, but when COVID-19 started disrupting schedules, they sort of fell into each other's laps – and everyone is happy about it.
"COVID completely destroyed our schedule,'' Pujol said. "When they moved the start of the season back from Nov. 10 to Nov. 25, we lost games with Auburn and Wisconsin, and we lost several home games, too. It was really hard, because trying to rebuild a schedule is very hard for someone like us.
"But Indiana was great. When we lost the Wisconsin game, we contacted Indiana and they still had a spot to fill, too, so it all came together pretty quickly. We're excited to hop on the bus and go back up there and play. Indiana has a very good team, and Coach (Archie) Miller has done a great job with that group.
"It's going to be so different playing there without fans, though. The atmosphere there, in that building, is one of the best in the country. But at least we get to play a game. We're all just so thankful for that this year. Every morning, you wake up and you just don't know what's going to hit you next.''
Indiana's schedule juggling really wasn't all that difficult, because the majority of its new seven-game nonconference was already etched in stone. Their three games in the Maui Invitational got play, albeit in Asheville, N.C. instead of Hawaii, and their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game with Florida State went off without a hitch Wednesday night. The Crossroads Classic in Indiana — the Hoosiers get Butler this year, next Saturday — is still good to go for now too. The Hoosiers are 3-2 this far.
Indiana basically only had two spots to fill on its schedule, and the Hoosiers needed home games badly. They beat Tennessee Tech 89-59 in the opener at Assembly Hall on Nov. 25, and get North Alabama on Sunday (Noon ET tipoff; TV: Big Ten Network).
It hasn't been that easy for North Alabama.
"We've only got three Division I games on our schedule, we've had a game canceled and we've filled the gaps with four other non-D1 games,'' Pujol said. "That's not what we wanted at all, but you do what you can to get games in. We just want to get games under our belts right now.''
Pujol said they've been dealing with COVID issues all year. They had several players and one coach test positive at different times during the offseason, and even though no one had any severe symptoms, it still made dealing with the pandemic a daily dilemma.
"You wake up every morning and you have to ask, 'who do we have available today?' '' Pujol said. "I've been in this game a long time, and I've never experienced anything like this. But I feel like we've adjusted pretty well. We're testing every day now. We've got three guys now who can't make the trip. One tested positive, and we've got to quarantine two other guys with the CDC protocols. They keep testing negative, which is good, so we should have them back soon.''
The Big Ten has been testing daily throughout the league, but that's not a luxury at a lot of other places. Pujol said he's been thrilled with how proactive the North Alabama administration has been.
"We've been doing the rapid testing every day and that's helped a lot,'' Pujol said. "But we also have the technology now like they had in the NBA bubble in Orlando. Our school bought two machines, one for the university and one for athletics, and we hired nurses from the hospital to administer things. I feel like we're on top of it pretty well.''
North Alabama has two easy wins to start the season, but lost 62-57 to Troy Thursday night in its first Division I game.
"We played well, but just didn't get it done down the stretch,'' Pujol said. "We fell behind by 14, and I give credit to our kids for fighting back and playing hard. We led with a minute and a half to go, but couldn't get the stops we needed at the end.''
North Alabama is dangerous from the three-point line. They've hit a total of 30 three-pointers in their first three games. Indiana, by comparison, has made only 21 long balls in five games. North Alabama's top three players — Jamari Blackmon, C.J. Brim and Mervin James — all played against Indiana a year ago.
They can't wait to do it again.
"Five months ago, it looked like we weren't even going to have a season, so it's great to have games. Our players, they'll take it,'' Pujol said. "It's a serious time, and we know that safety comes first. I can understand why the Ivy League shut everything down, because it really is a lot to be checking on everybody every day, and worrying about who they're in contact with.
"But that's 2020, I guess, We'll do all our testing and get on the bus. We're really looking forward to Sunday and being back at Indiana.''
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- LIVE BLOG FOR THE GAME: Follow along with our live blog as Indiana takes on North Alabama in Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE
