It’s not even 6 a.m., and the lights are coming on in the Dail Basketball Complex on the southern corner of campus. With school out, it’s not student-athletes slowly pouring in. Instead, it’s a few members of the Athletics Department and some of their friends getting ready for some pick-up basketball games.

The early-morning ritual of an hour of basketball has been taking place for a few months now, and there’s been so much interest the group has even had to form a waiting list for co-workers wanting to be involved.

“It’s funny because we have people who want to play,” Jon Fagg, associate athletics director for compliance, who is part of the group, said. “And we won’t let them in because we really do want to keep it small.”

As the sun begins to force its way through the massive glass windows in the building, the group’s three-on-three games are heating up. The players include men’s basketball assistant coach Pete Strickland, men’s soccer assistant Oronde Ash, Fagg and interim associate athletics director for external operations Dick Christy.

The group also includes what Fagg likes to refer to as “civilians” — players who aren’t part of the Athletics Department.

But one thing quickly becomes clear in these games played on a shorter-than-regulation court. Three-point attempts make up a great portion of the shots, with Strickland most frequently pulling up from long range and hitting nothing but net.

Strickland said his shooting touch comes mainly from opportunity, after playing alongside State assistant Larry Harris at Pittsburgh in college.

“When I played at Pitt, they made me pass the ball to Larry Harris every time. Now that I don’t have to play with Larry, I can actually shoot,” Strickland said.

He’s not alone, though, as most of the guys can hit a few long shots of their own.

Sure, players score a few lay-ups, but there isn’t what one would call post-up moves for the most part in these games. Ash said it’s all about keeping the workout as simple as possible.

“If you drive [to the basket], you’ve got to run,” Ash said. “Nobody wants to run.”

And as for problems with the early hour of the games, Ash said he has none.

“Not at all — I have a 4-year-old,” Ash said. “So I’m up at that time anyway.”

For Ash and the others involved in the pick-up games, the early hour for playing came out of necessity. With meetings and other work making it hard to schedule a good time during the day, Strickland had the idea to try 6 a.m.

“I just wasn’t getting my workouts in,” Strickland said. “And in the past at other schools, I’ve done some of the six o’clock in the morning stuff.”

He added the attitude of the guys playing helps make the early hour work.

“Everybody in the morning’s pretty light-hearted. It’s the start of a new day, despite the hour when you’re supposed to be grumpy, they really aren’t,” Strickland said.

But there’s still plenty of good-natured ribbing among the guys. Fagg said he saw it firsthand when he overslept one week and missed the pick-up games.

“I missed one of the early weeks when I overslept and my wife told me about it. And I got so much grief from everybody because my wife reminded me that I should come play basketball at 6 a.m.,” Fagg said. “We have a grief system; it’s not a fine system. We just crush people who miss.”

Among past visitors to the early-morning event has been Ernie Myers, who was a freshman for State when it won the national championship in 1983.

Meanwhile, Tom Stevens, a 1988 alumnus who was Fagg’s childhood friend, has been one of the “civilians” playing with the group. Stevens, who works at the Navy Operational Support Center on Western Boulevard, said it’s been good getting to develop new friendships with people like Strickland.

“I’ve got to know him personally as a friend,” Stevens said. “So it’s great to get to know some folks here.”

At the same time, Strickland makes sure it is clear he is not trying to bring back memories of his college playing days through the early-morning games.

“That’s not why I do it. My wife might accuse me of that, trying to bring back my memories,” Strickland said. “But, no, I genuinely have found no other alternative for a good workout.”

For Fagg, the games provide a chance to get to know co-workers beyond the job.

“For the administrators in the place, I think it’s fun to work out with the coaches, and you get a different sense of them and they get a different sense of you, not just ‘hey I need this from you’ or ‘you need this from me’ or ‘hey, good game last night,'” Fagg said. “It’s really fun to kind of get to know each other, kind of become friends instead of just co-workers.”