Arch Madness Championship - Mar 8 - UIC

[PantherAlum09]

Well Panther fans... We made it to the championship game. The boys are playing hard and they battled through familiar foes in Evansville, Illinois State, and Bradley . Now comes the athletic and aggressive Illinois-Chicago Flames. They are really playing well right now, and are going to be a super tough matchup.

UIC is led by a really strong core of payers including Crawford, Momoh, Washington, Lowery, and Johnson. They are super athletic and attack the glass relentlessly. We have to get our rebounds to prevent second and third chances.

We have gotten in a lot of foul trouble this tournament, but we are really going to need the best efforts from Hornseth, Smith, Schweiger, and Bond in particular. Max is going to be chasing Johnson around the perimeter. Trey is going to try and prevent Crawford from getting his looks and causing problems. Will is going to do his best to keep Momoh off the glass. Some combination of Leon, Ben, and Tristan is going to do their best to prevent Lowery and Washington from being as disruptive as they have been all tournament.

RJ has been a huge lift off the bench and really helps open things up running the point. He has grown a lot over these last couple days. Leon is becoming a star in this system. Trey is the steady presence, and Will and Ben just continue to do what they do.

I can't sleep but I sure hope they can. Let's win the whole thing.

Cats

[Username]

Moving up to 11:00 is ridiculous and to compile it even further it's the first day of daylights savings time bumping another hour.

Not preloading excuses but my god.

[7YrsOfCollegeDownTheDrain]

It's going to be a battle today - i do feel like Jake's done a good job playing a lot of guys, getting players breaks. This will be a tough game. I was impressed with UIC when we beat them at their place. Played the home game without Smith and had an abysmal night at the three point line in that game we were still right in that game. This game is going to be a battle as they play hard, defend well and have played really well the second half of the season.

Lets win one more.

[Username]

It's going to be a battle today - i do feel like Jake's done a good job playing a lot of guys, getting players breaks. This will be a tough game. I was impressed with UIC when we beat them at their place. Played the home game without Smith and had an abysmal night at the three point line in that game we were still right in that game. This game is going to be a battle as they play hard, defend well and have played really well the second half of the season.

Lets win one more.

Got a great first rotation out of the bench yesterday, and they will definitely earn time if they play well again. Bond and Trey will be good for 35+ and Schweiger will play starter minutes off the bench.

We need to get a Smith like player for next year which I know is much easier said than done, but man this team is so much different with him out there.

[Gboom23]

Third game in 37 hours. Good thing the guys are younger than I am at this point.

I’m looking at Tristan to have a big game today. He can be a good match for UIC’s physical nature and he hasn’t played many minutes the last couple days. It also seems like a game where Hutchins could be deployed more than normal.

Just get it done. Go Panthers!

[kochrab]

I'll tell ya, if you'd have told me we'd be in the championship game after the way we ended our season for the most part, I'd be shocked.

However, this team has been playing so well at the Arch, it's not that hard to believe anymore. Both of these teams will have some fatigue factor to them, but how much will that extra game impact us? We really need some solid bench production today again if we want this one. I feel like we need to do what we did to Bradley and to ISU. Punch them in the mouth early and never look back--so that when that fatigue sets in, we've got a little bit of a cushion.

GO PANTHERS!

[CletusCat]

UIC is one of the most athletic Valley teams I've seen in a while. I'm not shocked they made it to Sunday by any means, but Murray and Drake are on a different level defensively than we are.

We need everyone to show up and I believe they will. One more guys, let's get it!!

[BCPanther]

UIC is one of the most athletic Valley teams I've seen in a while. I'm not shocked they made it to Sunday by any means, but Murray and Drake are on a different level defensively than we are.

We need everyone to show up and I believe they will. One more guys, let's get it!!

Exactly.

Torvik Defensive Efficiency:
Murray 242
Drake 272

UNI 24

[orangetennis]

UIC hasn't really played a close game yet in St louis. That, plus the fact that they've only played two games, gives them an advantage from a rest perspective. However, in a championship game, anything can happen. Adrenaline kicks in, while nerves and emotion play a major factor.

Here's hoping our defense frustrates them, and we're able to get out to an early lead, like yesterday. And then they start thinking about their NCAA dreams going down the toilet and start playing hero ball taking bad shots.

Focus and execution becomes more difficult in championship games. I'm glad we have an advantage in coaching, but it always comes down to which team executes best.

Go Cats!

[Neighbor]

watching CBS ota. anyone else have difficulty with pixilation from the high center court camera? but not the othr cameras?

[QCPanther05]

The guys want this bad.

[Username]

bad starts frustrate me

Too good of starts make me nervous

[sivert]

Guys are tired. Making dumb mistakes. Have to push!

[Mudrafan]

Assists to turnovers. 15-3. Insane. Smith with 6 in just 9 minutes??!!

[QCPanther05]

Just. Hang. On.