Staff photo / John Vargo From left, Devin Morgan, Naz Bohannon and Garrett Covington, finish Monday’s pre-game dinner at the Hyatt Centric in downtown Chicago prior to the Youngstown State University men’s basketball team’s game at UIC.

CHICAGO — Garrett Covington was seen walking inside the Hyatt Centric hotel downtown wearing some light-colored headphones.

It’s not upbeat music that he’s listening to, it’s a voice talking, not singing, using soothing tones.

The Youngstown State University junior guard said you never know what’s in his headphones. He listens to every genre.

The selection changed to meditation through an app on his phone hours prior to Monday’s game at UIC.

“There’s a person talking to you,” Covington said. “It’s to relax you and calm you before the game. My biggest thing is calm down and breathe. It helps me focus my energy, put my energy on the court.”

He knows winning road games is vital if the Penguins want to compete for a Horizon League championship. Preparation is of the utmost importance, mentally locking in on all aspects of game preparation and execution.

He makes sure all his basketball-related items are packed and ready to go, just as he did during last weekend’s road trip to Indianapolis and Chicago. Tights, socks, shoes, hoodie and some sweatpants were part of the gear in his baggage.

There’s down time on the road, as there was Sunday, with the players having a couple of hours to wander around downtown Chicago. Covington, who is from Carmel, Indiana, 30 minutes north of Indianapolis, has been to both cities before. His focus is the ultimate task ahead for the Penguins, winning on the road.

“I think the approach is the same, no matter the city that you’re in. We’re here to win,” Covington said.

There’s also time for sightseeing as some players went down the famed Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Junior forward Geoff Hamperian made his way through the crowds on Sunday afternoon. He found the famed Bean, a gigantic mirror shaped like a bean, where tourists stare in wonder at their own reflection, getting many pictures on their phones.

It is one of the many things players are afforded during their trips with an NCAA Division I athletic team, seeing sights they wouldn’t see otherwise.

“I feel like I’m in one of those places in the world that not many people get to go to,” Hamperian said. “We’re lucky enough to have these opportunities to check those places out.

“I know coach (Jerrod) Calhoun doesn’t have to give me these chances. I’m very appreciative I get these opportunities to come here, be on this team and be part of a great organization.”

Hamperian, a non-scholarship player like Calhoun was when he started at Cleveland State University, was appreciative of the inclusion on the team, as well as making a couple of starts this season.

Even with all the preparation, playing and a little sightseeing, there are studies which are a factor when classes resume the middle of this month with the start of the second semester at YSU. Sometimes there’s a test or homework that needs to be done, often accomplished while the team is heading home after a long road trip.

“You just want to sleep,” Hamperian said. “That’s the hardest thing to do is study on the bus, probably my least favorite thing to do.”

Freshman guard Daniel Ogoro hails from London, England, and had been away from his family since he was 16, attending prep school here in the states.

Going on trips like the ones to Chicago and Indianapolis aren’t anything new. He’s prepared for the challenges.

“It prepared me for college,” he said. “I was already away from my family. I literally had to learn how to study by myself and live by myself for a whole year. The toughest thing is balancing it.

“When you’re by yourself, you have to make the right decisions. You have a limited amount of time to get in all your basketball, all your school work, everything you need to do in a day — balancing the whole student-athlete.”

Winning at home is easier on the road, but why?

“Everybody feels like they should win at home or they deserve to win at home,” Ogoro said. “It’s their fans. It’s where they practice every day. I think it makes it difficult (on the road) because you’re the only ones out here. If we do, it’s very few. At home, we have everyone rooting for us.”

He’s a big Manchester United fan, more a fan of the beautiful game, soccer, as we call it here — football to the rest of world.

Basketball isn’t as big as soccer, cricket and rugby across the pond. That’s why Ogoro was amazed at the sights of the Indiana Farmers Coliseum and the UIC Pavilion, both multi-purpose facilities that seat more than 6,000 people each.

“We’re in a great one right now, but you don’t have anything like this in England,” Ogoro said Sunday after being in the UIC Pavilion for practice. “Basketball, in England, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to my own country, but it’s like a third-world sport. They don’t care anything about basketball. It’s on the rise right now, but we barely have any gyms like this. Here every college you go to has a beautiful gym, even a high school gym.

“If you don’t play football, rugby or cricket, they don’t really care about it.”