From the end of November to mid-December, the Geneseo men's basketball team will compete in six games over 11 days.
"It's a difficult stretch in the schedule with so many games and students having exams, but that's college basketball," head coach Steve Minton said.
During the first half of this challenge, the Knights picked up their first win of the season. Geneseo topped the Rochester Institute of Technology, 81-67 as a part of the Wendy's Classic tournament on Dec. 2. Junior Ryan Riefenhauser led the scoring with 19 points in 34 minutes.
"We got on top early and had a lot of energy and confidence," Minton said. Geneseo also shot 54 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range, well above the team's season averages of 40 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Geneseo dropped its final game of the Wendy's Classic, falling 54-77 to St. John Fisher College, finishing the tournament with a 1-2 record.
On Dec. 6, Geneseo also came up short against SUNY Cortland, 64-51. The Knights only managed 34 percent shooting from the field and 45 percent from the foul line.
"We didn't shoot well and we struggled at the line. I was happy with our defense and I thought we rebounded well, but when you average 64 points a game then good defense isn't enough," Minton said.
Geneseo travels to two similar opponents this weekend as they face SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam on Dec. 9 and 10, respectively, for the last two games before the winter break.
Minton said that the Knights will concentrate more on practice this week.
"We're going to focus on our shooting in practice this week, getting shots from different areas of the floor and contested shots. That's where we need to be better," Minton said. "I was pleased [against Cortland] with the effort. We weren't outworked. We just didn't make shots. If we continue to work hard, we'll have success."