One of the oldest mindsets in all of team sports is to win a majority of your home games and win at least half of your away games. The road is an unkind place. A team attempts to go into someone else's house, battle an opposing team, put up with an unkind crowd and receive a fraction of the calls they would receive at home.
Playing on the road is especially unfavorable for women's basketball players in Conference USA.
A difference between C-USA and other conferences is the spacing between each game. Most other conferences have more days off in between games. In C-USA, for women's basketball, a road team will play two games over the weekend: the first on Friday and the second on Sunday.
The short time off between the two road games involves travel time, making it difficult for a road team to rest.
Houston and TCU both top the conference standings at 5-1, but each of their conference losses occurred on the road. Charlotte, DePaul and Louisville all own a conference record of 4-1, and their lone losses have all been on the road.
No team in C-USA is undefeated on the road, and the crucial distinction between the top and bottom of the conference could be a team's road record.
The road may be a different monster compared to home games, but junior point guard Carolyn Kieger tries not to change her approach to road games.
"I try to focus the same on the road as I do at home," Kieger said. "Being at home you are in more of a routine but in terms of preparing for the game, I try to get into the same routine."
Kieger has seen her fair share of road games. In her junior year, she has learned things playing on the road over the years that she was unaware of as a freshman.
"As a freshman everything is so crazy because you have never traveled across the country to play a game," Kieger said. "You don't realize how much travel can wear on you."
The Golden Eagles are no exception to the rule that it is tough to win C-USA games on the road. The team is currently 1-1 in conference road games this season, including a 74-54 loss Sunday at Tulane, which has a 1-5 conference record.
"On the road it's important for us to come out aggressive at the beginning of the game," Kieger said. "We cannot fear that we are on the road. We have to use the road as something that motivates us."
Fortunately, Marquette does not have to worry about any road problems this week. South Florida comes to the Al McGuire Center Friday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
The Bulls (14-6, 4-2) are led by sophomore Jessica Dickson, who averages 15.9 points per game.
On Sunday, Alabama-Birmingham and Marquette are set for a 2 p.m. tip-off, also at the Al McGuire Center. The Blazers enter this weekend with an overall record of 5-14 and 2-4 in C-USA games. They are led by sophomore guard Carmen Guzman, who averages 14.9 points per game.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 27 2005.