Matthew Johnson
   Sports Editor

The streetlamps are bright, the asphalt is hard, and the silver, full moon moon shines on every foul and jumpshot on the court.

When asked about dealing with all that nature throws when playing outside, freshman Jordan Newkirk, while in his first year at UNC-Greensboro, has seemingly profuse experience of handling the combative environment. “It can be a little difficult,” Newkirk explained. “But, if you are use to playing out here, its nothing new… ”

West of the Moore-Strong and Weil-Winfred dorms, north of the soccer and softball stadium and directly next to the Irwin Belk Recreation Track and outdoors volleyball court, UNCG houses one of the most brilliant of playground staples for its students, an outside basketball court.

Flocked nearly every night with ballers taking a break following a tough day of class and seeking games of basketball, which typically end in the latter part of the evening before midnight, the players know, even though the court is a break from their active schedules, games of basketball on blacktop are difficult.

“This is where the strong are bred,” said sophomore Owen Burley. “This is where you really get the true feel of basketball, outside, because sometimes you might not have a gym to go to,” Burley said. “So, when you are out here actually playing and under the lights and on the blacktop court, it feels good because you can play whenever you want. It’s just freedom.”

The ambience is a mixture of what one would see at a typical basketball game, but it also features something else. As described by sophomore Chigozie Umeofia, “The environment is kinda heavy and dense because even though we are just out here, chilling and playing around, the guys out here are very serious and they treat this thing out here as serious as a fight.”

While arguments on a basketball court are as common as a Dwight Howard’s missed free throw, and the sights on a court are similar to the appearance you would see in a fistfight (sweat, passion, blood), as Umeofia explained, though tensions are always high, there is a certain serenity to all of this sound and fury.

“It is a fun atmosphere,” Umeofia explained.“You are chatting with people and meeting new people every time you come out. I can honestly say, yeah it is a competitive environment, but it is also a very friendly one. And people are always willing to pick you up on their team. It’s like, ‘Hey man, are you ready to play,’ ‘Yeah sure man, alright, let’s run.’”

Barking trash talk and foul calls could, and usually, keep a game going all night. As Umeofia explained that lights of night because there are no referees or officials. The game can be slowed, Umeofia said, “because [the players out here] call every foul. They also do the hardest, advanced tricks you would see with a ball.”

With the unrestricted judgement of players, who may argue over the simplest and pettiest of calls such as standing in the restricted area, or choosing to silently agree to defend using the aggressive tactic of  hand checking, there is an understood and unavoidable fruit to their Eden-like blacktop paradise. “Your knees,” Burley said with a sigh, “If you keep playing, running and jumping, the concrete will cause your knees wear and tear. The more you play out here, the more you will feel it in your knees or any joint, not just your knees. And that’s really the only con I can see [to playing out here].”

When one is watching the Globetrotter-like dribbling and guard play of a few of the players out here, as a defender, one can only protect the lower legs as best as possible. By watching the Stephen Curry-like range of a three-point specialist, or the tomahawk jam of a six-footer on a fastbreak, one might even feel that players out here, like Umeofia said, “are  probably just as good as some of the guys who play on the official basketball team of UNCG.”

Perhaps a little embellished, perhaps truthful, but told with complete confidence, maybe there are players on the blacktop who could compete on the collegiate level.

For basketball players, either playing under the lights of flickering stars, or the bright television lights of a Coliseum, there is no question that their first jump shot, free throw, win and loss, likely began not on a parquet floor, but on the hard asphalt.