Men's basketball co-captain Luke Ruscoe '06 is looking forward to donning the Bears' white home jerseys this weekend.
"It's good to be back. The familiarity of being home is great, and it's nice not to be in a hostile away environment," said Ruscoe.
This season, the road has taken the Bears all over. Last weekend, the team wrapped up a nine-game stretch of away contests that began in December. In fact, the stretch would have been 10 games had Brown's Ivy League season opener at Yale not been postponed due to last month's blizzard.
An intense travel schedule can often interfere with course work and academic obligations, but veterans like Ruscoe and co-captain Jason Forte '05 are used to walking the difficult line of balancing a heavy travel schedule with performing well in the classroom.
"You've got to make the transition from basketball to school life and then back to basketball. You've really got to prioritize what you're doing," Ruscoe said.
Forte echoed his teammate's sentiments.
"You've got to give the same effort on the court and in the classroom," said Forte. "You can't let one of them slip. You don't want to find yourself on the bench, and of course, you don't want to put yourself in danger of failing out."
On the court, Forte has been his usual self. His 18.3 points per game leads the Ivy League, and his 4.25 assists per game ranks third. He has been deadly from the charity stripe, as his 82 percent free-throw percentage puts him in third place in the league. His career-high 36 points at Cornell and game-winning shot at Columbia earned him Ivy League Player of the Week honors Monday.
Forte is very much looking forward to playing in front of the home crowd this weekend. "I'm a senior and I've never played nine road games in a row. It's been tough, but we're looking forward to getting back to the house," he said.
The Bears' overall record sits at 9-9, as the split at Cornell and Columbia left them 2-2 in Ivy play. The University of Pennsylvania is at the top of the Ivy standings at 5-0. With perennially weak Harvard and Dartmouth coming to Providence, Ruscoe and the Bears are aiming for a pair of wins this weekend.
"We're looking for a sweep. We're ready to get going at home and take care of Dartmouth and Harvard," Ruscoe said. "Once again, our defense will be extremely important. We've got to make them take difficult shots. If we hold them to a low shooting percentage, then we should be in good shape."
Ruscoe has been solid all year for the Bears, as he ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.0 points per game, first in rebounds with 5.6 and first in steals with 1.83 per game.
For the next two weeks, the Bears will stay in the comfortable confines of College Hill. Home weekends make the balancing act of academics and basketball much easier, Ruscoe said. "It's always nice to be able to attend a class on a Friday."
