The grind of CIAA play might be taking its toll on Winston-Salem State.
Newcomers on the team are finding life on the road challenging, and the Rams (15-4, 1-2 Southern Division) have lost two straight road games, to St. Augustine's and Johnson C. Smith.
They'll try to end the skid tonight at 7:30 at Livingstone (5-11, 1-2).
Despite the losses, the Rams moved into the NABC Division II poll this week, tied at No. 25 with King (Tenn.), even though they haven't looked much like a ranked team in recent games.
Coach Bobby Collins didn't do anything drastic to shake things up after Monday's 76-70 loss to Johnson C. Smith, but he said not doing little things well has been costly.
"We have to defend better and feed off our defense," Collins said. "And we have to hit shots. When we hit shots, we are a very good team and are hard to stop.
"We just have to do what we do well. We need to get into that rhythm we had earlier in the season. We have to get better at getting the ball inside."
The Rams struggled against tight zones in the losses. Center Joe Thompson had three baskets early against Johnson C. Smith, but he and the other inside players were ineffective the rest of the game.
"These two losses are frustrating," guard Justin Glover said, "but we are a good team, so we'll bounce back."
Collins said that the Rams need leading scorer Glover (14.9 ppg) to be a little more consistent and that Glover needs to improve his defense.
Glover hit 2 of 10 shots against St. Aug's and 5 of 12 against Smith.
Glover and Kimani Hunt, transfers from junior college, are going through the CIAA for the first time, and Hunt said that there's a difference between road games and the Gaines Center.
"We fought back, but on the road in the CIAA, you can't make mental mistakes," Hunt said. "You have to just play, and you have to adjust so much all the time. We'll figure it out."
One luxury the Rams — defending Southern Division champions — will have is that after tonight, five of their last six regular-season games will be at home.
Livingstone, which reached the CIAA championship game for the first time last season, won its last game, 64-61 against St. Augustine's, on Omar Ford-Bey's 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Coach James Stinson has a balanced, perimeter-oriented team led by Nasir Austin (12.8 ppg). Greg Henry (9.4 ppg), Mark Thomas (9.1 ppg), Ford-Bey (7.4 ppg) and Ethan Anderson (7.1 ppg) add to scoring, and eight of Livingstone's losses have been by five points or fewer.
"They are playing well," Collins said of the Blue Bears. "I've watched film of their St. Aug's and Shaw games, and they sometimes have five guards on the floor, but they also have a couple of guys who can work on the inside."
Collins said that the Rams still have time to climb out of the hole they're in, especially with the schedule favoring them.
"We still have to play Shaw twice, and we have another game with J.C. Smith, and that's at home, but I just want us to play better down at Livingstone," Collins said.
"It has to start there for us if we want to get back in this race."
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