The men's basketball team endured a disheartening road trip, losing two games in three days.The Judges lost 80-65 at the University of Chicago on Friday before dropping another 80-65 game at Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday. The team fell to 4-5 in the UAA conference and 11-9 overall.

The individual talent was evident, but the team chemistry was severely lacking in two demoralizing losses. While captain Bryan Lambert '05 had an impressive 17-point performance against Chicago, the usually high-scoring guards were conspicuously absent from the scoring column that night.

In the following game it was Lambert who was ineffective from the floor, while guards Florian Rexhepi '08 and Kwame Graves-Fulgham '08 scored 14 points each.

Coach Brian Meehan seemed unperturbed by the two losses, and said that the team was right where he expected them to be at this point in the season. He stressed the youth and inexperience of the team, saying that the important part is that they continue to develop and learn from their mistakes.

"It's asking a lot for the young team to get up day after day for the big games," Meehan said. "Our guys have played a lot of minutes, and I think on Friday it showed with a little fatigue. It's not a case of doing the wrong things; it's that we're still not where we need to get to compete day in and day out."

The Judges came out stale in the second half of Sunday's game as the Bears took control right away with a 19-5 run. This came after a strong first half where Brandeis opened the game by outscoring Washington 21-9 and ended the half down by only one point.

But the fatigue showed in the second half, as the Judges were unable to contain Bears rookie forward Troy Ruths who shot 8-10 for 18 points off the bench.

"We came on the trip not [just] wanting to play well but to win both games, and we didn't do that," captain Scott Green '05 said.

Friday's loss to Chicago was not without personal highlights for some of the Judges. While the defensive problems were evident, the Brandeis offense came out strong and played well, even with poor shooting by the usually dependable Rexhepi.

Despite Rexhepi's dismal 1-10 shooting from the floor, he dished out a game-high six assists.

Developing a disciplined defense is one of Meehan's building blocks for this young team. With fatigue coming into play, the Judges showed weaknesses with their defense and rebounding that will need to be addressed for the team to reach its potential.

"Talent-wise we can play with anyone in the country," Green said. "It's tough when we go on the road; for a couple minutes each game we lose track of what we need to be doing and that really hurts us. Talent-wise we can beat anybody; it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together."

The season started with low expectations for a team with nine rookies, but early success raised hopes for both players and fans.

But the Judges have lost four of their last five conference games, and Meehan stresses the importance of the rookies learning from game to game.

"We recognize the mistakes that we made and we're going to come back stronger next week," Meehan said. "These guys are learning very quickly, and we're going to make up for it. [Carnegie Mellon] came into our house and spanked us, and we want to return the favor."

The Judges continue on the road against the Spartans on Friday before visiting the University of Rochester on Sunday.