Aug 13, 2013
LONDON — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team’s flight on Sunday from Chicago to London was pretty much a smooth one. Every seat had its own personal entertainment system, which included movies, TV shows, video games, music, etc. The Hawkeyes touched down in England around 10 a.m. local time (4 am CT). It took about 30 minutes for everyone to get through customs and then the team had a nice surprise, being greeted by Gabriel Olaseni’s family. The London native’s parents and siblings were thrilled to see Gabe and the entire team. It is incredible how almost identical Gabe and his younger brother look.
The team then checked into the hotel, grabbed a late breakfast and then headed out for a tour of some of the sights of downtown London. The main areas of attractions on Monday were Trafalgar Square, which we were told by our tour guide is the U.S. equivalent to Times Square, and photos near Big Ben. The sun popped out occasionally, but it was a mostly cloudy afternoon, with a cool breeze during the tour.
The Hawkeyes are looking forward to a nice welcome dinner tonight before crashing early to catch up on some zzzzz’s and get their bodies accustomed to the six-hour time difference.
The team gets to sleep in tomorrow before embarking around 10 a.m. on another brief tour around London. The Hawkeyes will hit the hardwood tomorrow night against the London Lions in a closed-door game. We’ll have a postgame recap on hawkeyesports.com after the game.
And as always, follow the team’s updates in real time via @IowaHoops on Twitter and Instagram.
Go Hawks!