Minium: ODU Men and Women's Basketball Open Sun Belt Schedules Wednesday at Chartway Arena
By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – While the Old Dominion football team is nearly 800 miles to the south, preparing to play in the StaffDNA Cure Bowl, the ODU men’s and women’s basketball teams are preparing for their Sun Belt Conference openers.
And alas for ODU fans of all three teams, all three games will be played on Wednesday.
The ODU women kick things off at 11 a.m. when they host Troy in the Monarchs’ annual Education Day game. Thousands of elementary school children from around Hampton Roads will be in Chartway Arena cheering on the Monarchs.
Six hours later, at 5 p.m, the ODU football team takes on South Florida in the Cure Bowl in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. It will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Then, at 8, the ODU men host archrival James Madison in the renewal of the TowneBank Royal Rivalry.
The football and men’s basketball games will, for a time, overlap. And with upwards of 2,000 ODU fans in Orlando, and students home on winter break, a basketball game that would usually draw a great crowd may not be as large as the Monarchs would hope for.
“It sucks,” ODU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike Jones said. “But we’re very proud of our football team. They’ve earned the right to play in a good bowl game. We support them in every way and are rooting for them to win.
“The scheduling just happens to fall on the same day. It’s not anyone’s fault.
"We're hoping our fans that aren't in Orlando will turn out in big numbers. This should be a very good game."
For early-arriving fans at Chartway Arena, a big-screen TV will be set up in the Big Blue room for people to watch the football game.
Not only are the Monarch basketball teams opening their Sun Belt schedules, they’re doing it against two of the league’s best teams.
In spite of losing 13 players off their roster, the JMU men were the preseason favorites to win the Sun Belt title
They’ve struggled a bit early on. They are 7-4 and were forced to rally to defeat Norfolk State, 68-67, in Harrisonburg in their last outing.
ODU, meanwhile, has played an aggressive schedule, with most of their games on the road, and is 3-8. ODU has lost five in a row, all on the road, at Drexel, Villanova, William & Mary, Richmond and George Mason.
The Monarchs were competitive in all five games, but in most instances, could not quite get over the hump. Injuries to four different players haven’t helped.
“Obviously, confidence is a fragile thing, but ultimately, I think we’re in the right mindset,” Jones said. “We played the toughest mid-major schedule in the country. Drexel is the only team ranked beneath us that we’ve lost to. Everyone else is so far ahead of us.
“We challenged ourselves. But it’s not like it’s been a surprise. And some of our injuries are beginning to heal.
“We’ve been preparing all season for our Sun Belt schedule and now it’s here.”
That has been Jones’ mantra since the final game of 2024-25. The Sun Belt schedule is what matters, and, in the end, preparing for and winning the Sun Belt Tournament matters most.
JMU’s biggest off-season recruit was Justin McBride, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward who averages 17.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. And he makes 50 percent of his three-point shots. He previously played at Oklahoma State and Nevada.
“They shoot really well,” Jones said. “They’re versatile. They have guys who can post, guys who can put the ball on the floor and have guys that can shoot. They’re very good. We’ve got to be locked in to what our game plan is.
“They’re James Madison and we need to beat the Dukes. We need to win this game.”
The ODU women are 7-3 and like Jones, Head Coach DeLisha Milton-Jones has also preached to her players that what matters most is the Sun Belt schedule.
The Troy women are 9-1 and are second-ranked Sun Belt team in the NCAA Net rankings at No. 75. The Trojans have played a rugged schedule and claimed wins over Missouri, an SEC school, 100-82. Missouri is 10-3 and ranked 72nd in the NET rankings.
Troy is big and experienced. Zay Dyer, a 6-2 center from Atlanta, averages 12.2 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Fortuna Ngnawo, a 6-foot senior from Cameroon, leads the Trojans with 15.4 points per game. Four Trojans are averaging double figures.
ODU has at times played very well. The Monarchs held off a talented Howard team, 63-59, and Milton-Jones said the team is developing the chemistry she hoped her players would develop.
ODU guard Simaru Fields, who averages 11.2 points per game, is the only Monarch scoring in double figures, but that is by design.
Last season, Milton-Jones said her four top players – Fields, Simone Cummingham, En’Dya Buford and Kelsey Thompson – were worn out by the end of the season.
She focused on recruiting backups who, when her starters went to the bench, the talent level would not drop, or at least not much.
No player averages more than 26 minutes per game.
“Last year, they just played too many minutes and at the end of the season, they were out of gas,” she said
“We’re ten games into the season and I see our players maturing and collaborating and coming together.”
She said scheduling an Education Day game for ODU’s home opener was wicked smart.
“It was a smart idea to have Education Day to fill the void,” she said.
And as for the kids who are cheering?
“I still hear them in my sleep when the game is four hours ended,” she saidy, laughing.
“The toughest part for me is that we kind of take for granted the level of communication we have with our players. With thousands of kids there, it will make communication a little more difficult than usual.
“But we love having the kids there. They’re so into the games and they’re all rooting for us. We'll take all of the support we can get.”
Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
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