Up Next: Southern Illinois

[Trapped in California]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Sweet under the basket shot by O'Rear on the "fast break"

[UNIChippewa]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Good to see an old-fashioned beatdown. We were due to deliver one of those to somebody, and it might as well be SIU.

[r54uni]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Even though Fay is from SIU I have always liked his game. He seems like a decent guy. He would have looked much better in purple - just seems like a panther-type player.

[Moose39]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

My thoughts:

A. Going 6-13 from beyond the arch... i really don't know what to say about it really. Good job. Sure beats 2-17.

B. Way to get to the line. Going 18-20 will always help you out (naturally)

3. We really stepped it up for only playing 7 guys (Rank played 8 minutes, possibly due to the eye incident early on). I really can't complain about much this game. Way to take it to 'em

[JCPanthers]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Gary...Come on Man!!! Lucas scores a career high 18 points and pulls down 10 boards and he's not the player of the game?

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Gary...Come on Man!!! Lucas scores a career high 18 points and pulls down 10 boards and he's not the player of the game?

I thought the same thing. I would have bet both sideburns and the Amish beard that he would have been POG tonight. Not that KA wasn't deserving, of course...

[achrist70]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Thoughts
1. Let's build off of this game, we played well one both ends of the floor.
2. O'Rear played extremely well, love the Amish beard.
3. I would argue that this might have been Kwadzo's best game offensively, just for the fact that he never really forced anything tonight.
4. I like us taking somewhere between 12-15 3's, that seems to be the right amount.
5. Zelton Steed officiated by far the best game I have ever saw him officiate.
6. Crowd was good, but it is frustrating when people don't use their tickets leading to big wholes in the crowd.
7. Wednesday is a BIG game, I will get the Up Next thread up sometime tomorrow.

[9YRPLAN]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

amish mullet

[Casey'sitsallgood]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Gary...Come on Man!!! Lucas scores a career high 18 points and pulls down 10 boards and he's not the player of the game?

This is thread is the first I'm hearing anything about last night's game and to be completely honest, I was going to comment earlier in the thread that Luke was going to have a big game. Pretty obvious, last game against school in his backyard that, apparently, didn't really want him...

[jegbomb52]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Can you imagine how much we would hate Lucas if he played for the fighting Saluki dogs that eat children?

[ubuntuCAT]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Can you imagine how much we would hate Lucas if he played for the fighting Saluki dogs that eat children?

I think Luke is probably my favorite player but I can not even imagine how much I would hate him if he played for another team. especially SIU.

[Spathicle]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

Didn't get to watch the game but I like it from what I can tell. I'd like to steal one in the Round House Wednesday. I mean, Wichita is kind of a dump as a city, those kids have to get depressed about it sometime!

[PFan23]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

By far our most complete game of the year. The offense seemed to be moving a step faster the past game or two. Love the backdoor cuts they have Johnny doing and he always seems to finish them well. 15 assists from this team is outstanding as it seemed like we were averaging about 8-10 most games.

I think the stat of the game is O'Rear 6-6 from the FT line. This and the Iowa State game are his two career best games. Really like his patience when he gets the ball about 12 feet from the hoop. Also when he is in the total defense just seems to run smoother.

[TravelingPanther]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

This is thread is the first I'm hearing anything about last night's game and to be completely honest, I was going to comment earlier in the thread that Luke was going to have a big game. Pretty obvious, last game against school in his backyard that, apparently, didn't really want him...

Multiple SIU fans have told me how dad hated the staff at SIU and so they were never really an option.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: Up Next: Southern Illinois

I would say that's not totally true. I would say totally untrue, but I haven't specifically asked that question to Lucas' father.

Let's go back to how this all shook down recruiting wise.

UNI offered 3 guys for one scholy (first come, first serve)...Brent Barz from Johnston, IA, Carlton Fay from Putnam Co HS, IL, and Lucas O'Rear from Nashville HS in IL. Brent Barz in the early portion of his junior season committed to UNI, and so they dropped interest in Carlton. They kept recruiting Lucas, but knew they didn't have a scholy at that time. SIU offered Fay and he got their lone big man scholy. They never offered Lucas. Then, Atila Santos left UNI after the McDermott move to ISU and Lucas got offered from UNI and then committed.

I think SIU's staff was pretty complimentary of Lucas, but it was just a best fit thing at the time. It's like James Harrington for UNI. He's a local kid that has good talent, but they probably need to take a post player in 2012, so they might not go out and get top local kid who is D-1 for sure, but instead go for need. When both scenarios fall into their lap (top local kid with D-1 talent and it fits a need) that's a great combo. I would put Adam Viet, Austin Pehl, Carlton Reed, and Seth Tuttle into that category.