MVC down the stretch

[JayJ79]

I wanted a convenient way to see the remaining (conference) schedules for the Valley teams. So I put one together.

[I]	MVC	Games
[U]Team	Rec.	Left                     [/U][/I]
CU 	12-4	@MSU,  ILS 
UNI	12-4	@ILS,   UE 
ILS	11-5	 UNI,  @CU 
BU 	 9-7	 @UE,   DU 
DU 	 7-9	 SIU,  @BU 
UE 	 7-9	  BU, @UNI 
WSU	 7-9	 INS, @SIU 
INS	6-10	@WSU,  MSU 
SIU	6-10	 @DU,  WSU 
MSU	3-13	  CU, @INS 


[I][through 2/18][/I]

[06panther10]

Re: MVC down the stretch

I am going to be a nervous nellie.

[paMANther]

Re: MVC down the stretch

We beat SIU and BU takes down CU I wont be so nervous then

[ceaser150]

Re: MVC down the stretch

So is it Illinois St's turn to go on an 11 game win streak, since they lost at home to Indiana St in overtime?

[Newshound]

Re: MVC down the stretch

I see Creighton going 4-1 at worst in those last five and possibly 5-0. If that's the case, UNI needs to win all three home games and possibly one of the remaining two road games to clinch outright.
Wednesday night will tell us a lot. This team needs to play a solid game. It's hard to nitpick when you're winning, but UNI hasn't played a GREAT GAME since the 35 minutes it played at Missouri State (Jan. 25). It did enough to squeak by against ISU (red), ISU (blue) and Bradley. The players will even admit they weren't at their best in those wins. Yesterday, there were too many defensive lapses (particularly in transition early) and too many missed shots -- particularly inside the arc. You can't shoot 35 percent from two-point range and beat Creighton.
The sign of a good team is how you rebound and recover. We'll see if that are up to it.

[CR Panther]

Re: MVC down the stretch

I agree-Wed will tell us all we need to know about the midset of this team over the next 5 games going in to StL. I sure hope they come out punching from the start and do it continually. SIU is playing very well and some say have the newbie of the year on their team.

[jegbomb52]

Re: MVC down the stretch

We will adjust. The thing is that what worked the first half of the conf. season might not nessacarily work the second half. Other teams have made adjustments when they play us, also, we now have the bullseye on our backs. I am sure that once the team is healthy (a lot of flu going around) and we make our adjustments (not that we haven't already) we will be fine. Not worried a bit. Attendence will hurt, at large chances now are non-existent, but team wise (w/L) we are fine.

[TravelingPanther]

Re: MVC down the stretch

If anyone has watched Creighton's other games(outside of playing UNI), I would count on them going 4-1 or 5-0 down the stretch.

[jman2004]

Re: MVC down the stretch

We will adjust. The thing is that what worked the first half of the conf. season might not nessacarily work the second half. Other teams have made adjustments when they play us, also, we now have the bullseye on our backs.

Hopefully this is true . . . anyone know why O'Rear was absent for much of the final 10 minutes yesterday? A few times down the stretch Creighton had extended possessions due to our inability to pull down a rebound. However Koch was our only height in the game.

I thought Jordan played well in the first half, but looked dead for most of his minutes in the second half. We need to be smarter with our minutes for our big guys. I thought Roddy looked decent yesterday in the first half. That guy has some good moves in the post, he just can't buy a bucket.

With teams trying hard to take away our three point shot, we need to do one of two things. We need to utilize our front court the best we can. We did not do that yesterday. Roddy saw minutes early on, then never saw the court again. Jordan saw too many minutes early on, and was too tired to play in the second half. O'Rear for some reason, was on the bench much of the second half as well. Koch was the only one out there. If Creighton was going to go with a small lineup, force them to guard us down low, and feed it to our big guys.

Second thing we need to do is get Ali and Johnny open looks from behind the arc. Set some plays up that end with them getting the shot. Jacobson has to have some in the book. 3 point shooting has been marginal at best here lately and I think it's because of teams focusing on it against us and forcing us to shoot ill-advised threes to find some kind of rhythm. We have great three point shooters, so we need to work to get them an open look. Kwadzo can do this well.

We need to bounce back Wednesday night. Creighton scares me right now. They aren't sitting too bad right now, sitting two games back, looking at our two remaining schedules.

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: MVC down the stretch

I actually thought we had many very good, open looks from 3 yesterday...we just didn't hit them. I had no gripes with the offense at all, actually. We missed about 5 bunnies in the paint and couldn't hit water if we fell out of a boat from the outside.

[clenz]

Re: MVC down the stretch

Bottom line as I see it.


We played horribly. We shot 29% from the field and 19% from three while Creighton shot 47% and 35% respectively, and we only lost by 6.


I can see a silver lining there, it is pretty thin, but it is there.

[jman2004]

Re: MVC down the stretch

We missed about 5 bunnies in the paint and couldn't hit water if we fell out of a boat from the outside.

I agree. Poor shooting all around. We won't beat Creighton too often shooting like we did yesterday.

Good thing SIU is having a down year. Hopefully our shooting gets back on track.

['70 Grad]

Re: MVC down the stretch

Wasn't O'Rear in foul trouble?

Adam R. does need to finish around the basket to help us. He is learning the defense - getting better - but a ways to go. We can't live with trouble at both ends. (JE too!)

[jman2004]

Re: MVC down the stretch

Wasn't O'Rear in foul trouble?

He finished the game with only 2 fouls and hardly played (if at all) in the final 10 minutes (he only logged 19 minutes total). It wasn't foul trouble that kept him on the bench.

I would've liked to see him in there toward the end, make Creighton either sub out a guard to match up with him, or help get rebounds. Don't know why we went with a four guard lineup for much of the final 10 minutes.

Oh well though. Like someone said, all streaks come to an end. Creighton is playing well. We shot poorly. Time to get back on track Wednesday.

[Khan4Cats]

Re: MVC down the stretch

Almost certainly a two-horse race with us and Creighton.

Illinois State's starting PG Lloyd Phillips has left the team for personal reasons. Was their 3rd leading scorer and averaging 32 minutes a game. They are already only 2-4 on the road in Valley play and have road dates at Evansville and Drake this week.