Northridge Bracing for Long Road Trip

Four games in six days, more than 12,000 miles of air travel and, perhaps, a bit of jet lag is in store this week for the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team.

The Matadors, after Monday night’s 84-70 victory over James Madison, are scheduled to fly today from Harrisonburg, Va., to Honolulu, where they will enter the Nike Festival on Thursday at Hawaii.

Northridge (6-3) will play tournament games against Alabama-Birmingham, Hawaii and Georgia State before returning home Sunday.

The eight-day sojourn is believed to be the longest road trip for any Northridge team. The Matadors will make stops today in Cincinnati and San Francisco en route to Hawaii.

“This will be the longest trip I’ve been on,” forward Jeff Parris said. “Everybody’s tired now just from taking finals.”

Guard Carl Holmes, who has played considerably at small forward, said the Matadors will try to guard against fatigue.

“Right now, we have guys coming off the bench and picking up the slack,” Holmes said.

Coach Bobby Braswell said he expects to substitute frequently during the tournament to keep fresh legs on the floor.

“This is going to test our mettle, that’s for sure,” Braswell said. “It’s a lot of traveling and it’s going to be a tough trip.”

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Northridge moved to 59th in the nation in the Sagarin rankings last week, the highest in the program’s history.

Wyoming and Kent State, which Northridge has defeated, are ranked 27th and 49th, respectively.

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Parris is 48 points shy of reaching 1,000 in his career and giving the Matadors’ two 1,000-point scorers on the same team. Center Brian Heinle topped the 1,000-point plateau in the opener against Howard.

Heinle is averaging a team-high 18.1 points. Parris is second at 15.6.

Heinle needs three blocked shots to tie Cliff Higgins’ Northridge career record of 66 from 1981-84.