NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT men's basketball team is in Europe, where the Highlanders will play five games in three countries before returning home on August 28.
The Highlanders, who left Newark Liberty International Airport on August 18, are making use of an NCAA rule that allows Division I teams to play outside the United States every four years. NJIT will visit three countries on their tour. The first game will be in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, beginning August 20, when the Highlanders take on Meppel Red Giants.
After a break, NJIT will have two games in Belgium, the first against Oudenaarde on August 22. Oudenaarde is a member of Belgium's second league. In the next game, the Highlanders will face Brussels Basketball in Belgium's capital city on August 23. Brussels Basketball plays in Belgium's first league, the Ethias League.
The next two games on the tour are in France, with a visit to Juvisy on August 26 and Trappes on August 27. Juvisy (full name: Alerte de Juvisy Basket) and Trappes (L'Etoile des Cheminots Trappes/Saint-Quentin en Yvelines) are the final two opponents.
Coverage of the tour will be found on www.njithighlanders.com, as well as updates on Facebook (NJITHighlanders) and Twitter (@njithighlanders). Be sure to check back to see how the Highlanders fared in their games, as well as updates on the experience of visiting and playing in Europe.
In addition to the five games, the Highlanders will have an array of non-basketball activities, including museum tours in Amsterdam, which house the works of Rembrandt and Van Gogh, among other masters. The team will also take a sightseeing cruise of the Amsterdam Canal and then visit the Anne Frank House and Jewish Historical Museum.
The Highlanders will be based in Ghent for the Belgium part of the tour and in Paris during their stay in France. In Belgium, they will tour a castle built in 1180 and then they will visit a cathedral that dates back to the 15th century, Paris visits will include Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, known for its collection of Impressionist masterpieces, and also the Louvre, renowned as the home of perhaps the most important art collection in the world.
In terms of basketball, the timing of the trip couldn't be better for coach Jim Engles, his assistants and the players.
Of the 14 men on the 2013-14 preseason roster, only two, juniors Daquan Holiday and Odera Nweke, ever appeared in a game for the Highlanders prior to last season. Indeed, the roster includes six true freshmen, two transfers who sat out the 2012-13 season under NCAA transfer rules, and Terrence Smith, a sophomore who started the first 10 games as a freshman, but then got hurt and only appeared in one more game the rest of the way. Smith, who averaged nearly 27 minutes played in his nine starts up until December 13, did not get back in competition until March 15, when he came off the bench for five minutes in the Great West Conference Tournament.
In addition to the two juniors, and senior Quentin Bastian, who was a two-year college transfer a season ago, the team also has two sophomores who each played roles on NJIT's 2012-13 team that won 16 games (highest total in NJIT's Division I era, which began in 2006-07) and won the regular season championship of the Great West Conference.
The European games will afford many of the players a chance to work together in competition against outside teams for the first time. In addition, because of preparations for the tour, the coaches have been able to do more coaching than would be allowed in a typical summer that did not include games against foreign teams.
