Eastern Illinois' coach shares a funny tale of a stranded bus, tacos after win at Mizzou

The weather was terrible in Missouri on Friday — an icy drizzle caused accidents across the state and locked down Interstate 70 outside of St. Louis.

One of the vehicles trapped in that gridlock was the Eastern Illinois men's basketball team's bus as they were heading to Columbia, Mo. to take on Mizzou on Saturday afternoon.

The trip usually takes three or four hours, depending on St. Louis traffic, but on Friday, it took 12, according to EIU coach Jay Spoonhour — seven of which took place in one spot.

The wait was worth it — EIU upset Mizzou 67-64.

After the game, a joyous Spoonhour spoke about the long trip and the team's harrowing taco run from the middle of the Interstate:

https://twitter.com/AustinKKim/status/810277364781502464

“What’s the Mexican joint I’ve driven by it a thousand times? We were right there… I’m not lying now, we put it in park and sat there for seven hours. About three hours in, the guys said, ‘Hey coach, man, can we get some tacos?’

The windows are fogged up and stuff and you’re on the Interstate, and I said ‘no, it’s illegal and there’s a 7-foot fence, and it’s icy’ — I thought it was really wise to not do that.

Six-and-a-half hours into the trip, I asked ‘Hey, who wants to go get 50 tacos?’

No one volunteered, so we have a 6-foot-7 manager, which is great, so we hoisted him up and he went and got 50 tacos for us."

As you can see, there's the "7-foot fence" separating the I-70 from delicious tacos.

(The real trick, when St. Louis traffic is bad, is to take highway 54, cutting down in Mexico, Mo., where you can visit Casa Del Sol — the best Mexican restaurant in Mexico, Mo. — but you live, you learn.)