Game 18 - Jan 14 - Evansville

[MVCBeat]

Is it just me or did it seem like Evansville was so physical it bordered on dirty? Didn’t seem to bother our guys too much (in the sense that it didn’t seem to get in their heads), but they were fouling HARD. Reminded me of the early aughts when SIU was basically allowed to foul every time down because that was “their style”.

[06panther10]

I'm glad that game is over. That's all.

[BCPanther]

Is it just me or did it seem like Evansville was so physical it bordered on dirty? Didn’t seem to bother our guys too much (in the sense that it didn’t seem to get in their heads), but they were fouling HARD. Reminded me of the early aughts when SIU was basically allowed to foul every time down because that was “their style”.

It's their only hope at winning games because they're so bad offensively. Pretty sure there's a couple guys on that team that have to have their moms travel with them to tie their shoes because they're so uncoordinated.

['70 Grad]

In one respect, I am sad that we only get to play them once this year. Another win would be nice.
Then I wonder about going to Indiana and playing them. How bad would it be to lose to them?

[clenz]

In one respect, I am sad that we only get to play them once this year. Another win would be nice.
Then I wonder about going to Indiana and playing them. How bad would it be to lose to them?

I fully expect to lose that one in either heartbreaking buzzer-beating fashion or by 30. That Illinois/Indiana border is some sort of magical border that just causes every single UNI team under Jake to forget how basketball is played.

[UNIAlum95]

That game was on another level of awful to watch. Happy to win ugly and get on to SIU this weekend.

[orangetennis]

It's their only hope at winning games because they're so bad offensively. Pretty sure there's a couple guys on that team that have to have their moms travel with them to tie their shoes because they're so uncoordinated.

I don't know. Yes, Evansville is a bad team, however, they looked more competent than previous seasons. I'd take Cuff any day, and that shooter Haffner would be a real asset too. Of course Comer is the type of guard we've been looking for.
They couldn't hit water from a boat last night, but you could tell they have something more this year, (although that's not saying much).

[clenz]

I don't know. Yes, Evansville is a bad team, however, they looked more competent than previous seasons. I'd take Cuff any day, and that shooter Haffner would be a real asset too. Of course Comer is the type of guard we've been looking for.
They couldn't hit water from a boat last night, but you could tell they have something more this year, (although that's not saying much).

I've watched more Evansville than any non-Evansville fan should this year. They are being saved by the fact Missouri State is potentially as bad as the worst Evansville or D+ teams this league has ever seen and the fact SIU is about one step in front of that.

They couldn't hit water from a boat almost any night, not just last night. As a team, on the season, they are shooting 28% from 3, 41% from the floor, 67% from the FT line, and 63 points per game. Compare that to UNI at 38% from 3, 51% from the floor, 72% from the line, and 77 points per game.

Cuff would be 7th on our roster in FG%, 7th in 3pt%. and 12th in FT% (If you look at only guys who play *significant* minutes he would be 8th behind every single one and he is also behind RJ, Charlie Miller, and Redek Born. I almost included Redek in the first number but didn't). The only players he would be ahead of in scoring - and considering the MPG and shots per game compared to these two - are Max and Will. Both are better shooters but don't shoot that the volume cuff does. The one thing he would be leading our team in is foulds. He has 45, which isn't even at the top of his roster somehow. I will grant you Cuff would be a good option in the 14-18 mpg 7th or 8th rotation spot that we have Max/Kyle/Redek in right now, but I'm to sure "any day of the week" outside of always nice to have depth is a given.

Comer is shooting 36% from the floor and 24% from deep. Is that the kind of guard we've been looking for? Those numbers, as already established, would be so far below even our lowest player that our fan base (especially here) would be screaming at Jake to stop him from shooting ever by sitting him on the bench. 62 assists is outstanding, but is paired with 58 turnovers. By contrast, our highest TO number is 33 by Trey and Tytan. However, they are 54 and 50 assists respectively. Hes averaging 13 points per game out of just shooting the ball almost ever time it touches his hand in the front court. 217 FG attempts. Trey is our leader at 158, shooting 46% from the floor (and 48 from deep) to Comers 36 and 26. We had "him" before. Remember Juwan McCloud? Statistically he is exactly who McCloud was. Juwan shot 36% 25% but was better at controlling the ball because he had a 2.4:1.7 ATO and not 1.06:1 ATO. Have we already forgotten how much this message board/fan base hated that kind of player? It's the one player our fan base wanted run out of town. The one player Jake told to "play elsewhere". Sure, his dad was Noah Carter's dad levels of bad with 1/3rd the talent of Noah. Even production wise Jake wasn't going to keep him around and play him

When you look at those two in relation to the rest of the Evansville roster, they look fantastic and as though they could be a top 4 or 6 player on any MVC roster. Put them with a real MVC roster, not an NEC, OVC, SLC, or Summit-like roster, and they start to disappear real quick. They aren't Ballentine, Mock, Ryan, or even Jaylon Bown.

Cuff and Comer are bailed out with how they play by the fact they are on a roster of kids that would struggle to be D1 anywhere else. To be less than PC - they are a Midwest 4 on their own but they are surrounded by Midwest 2s

Haffner, genuinely, isn't even worth spending time directing like those other two. He would be fighting Charlie Miller for end-of-game shots in blowouts.

Their 6 wins this year are
Tiffin - a D2 team that is 3-11 this year (doesn't include the UE game in their record as it wasn't a regular-season game for them)
Brescia - a NAIA team that is 4-9 this year (doesn't include the UE game in their record as it wasn't a regular-season game for them)
UW-Green Bay - 2-15 overall and 328 in the NET
Campbell - 5-10 overall and 265 in the NET
Missouri State 5-11 overall and 271 in the NET (also has zero wins over teams with winning records/teams that are also D1 with winning records)
Illinois State - 116 NET. How they pulled this one off is a bit of a mind-melter for me. Not only did they win they won by 18. ISUR had just beat SIU by 34 and had us coming to town 3 days later. I wonder if they got caught in the trap that is Evansville, especially as the game was in Evansville. Then again Evansville is always good for 2 or 3 of those a year it seems. Normally it comes at our expense.

Yes, I'm a certified Evansville hater so I struggle to find anything good about them in general. I admit that. However, they are just insanely bad. In the past they'd be bad but would have Colt Ryan or DJ Ballentine or Jaylon Brown because Marty pulled some dumb lucky **** recruiting because he ran an offense to make one guy the star. They don't have that anymore. They have a generic college motion offense from the 90s, which is one of the worst things you can have in 2025. Especially at one of the smallest schools in the nation with zero history of being good unless you go back into history to find it before any of the current roster was born. Hell, when the parents of the kids on the roster were still in high school.

[Khan4Cats]

Hard to fathom just how bad Evansville is and how bad their bench must be. They only played 8 players all game (the 9th came in in the last minute when they had a 4th player foul out). You'd have to think they could offer playing time for anyone in the portal with a pulse. Do they have some of the academic issues/restrictions that plagued Drake for a while? I mean that was a bad game. Bad, bad, bad and had to have an impact on our guys. I mean, how do you respond to a player hitting the underside of the backboard on a layup attempt? Or practically air-balling dunk attempts? Geez.

The scary thing is Southern Illinois is possibly worse and Missouri State even below that, and those are our next two games. We have to be mentally sharp and get these two before heading two the vortex that is the State of Indiana.

[BCPanther]

Hard to fathom just how bad Evansville is and how bad their bench must be. They only played 8 players all game (the 9th came in in the last minute when they had a 4th player foul out). You'd have to think they could offer playing time for anyone in the portal with a pulse. Do they have some of the academic issues/restrictions that plagued Drake for a while? I mean that was a bad game. Bad, bad, bad and had to have an impact on our guys. I mean, how do you respond to a player hitting the underside of the backboard on a layup attempt? Or practically air-balling dunk attempts? Geez.

The scary thing is Southern Illinois is possibly worse and Missouri State even below that, and those are our next two games. We have to be mentally sharp and get these two before heading two the vortex that is the State of Indiana.

They beat SIU by 15 and Missouri State by 17.

Good chance to help the metrics, I guess?

[Wxcpanther]

They beat SIU by 15 and Missouri State by 17.

Good chance to help the metrics, I guess?

It's a trip to Carbondale, and the Salukis get the benefit of consecutive convincing wins over the Bears to build momentum. I just want to get out of there with a win.